


Perseverance

by okmangeez



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Change the Past, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Hiraishin, Second Shinobi War, Self-Insert, Third Shinobi War, Transported to another world, Uchiha Clan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2020-10-12 01:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 48,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20555816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okmangeez/pseuds/okmangeez
Summary: When my senses came to, I realized that I was no longer in my adult body or bedroom. Instead, I was in the body of a seven year old kid that lived in Konoha, right before the outbreak of the Second Shinobi War. With no way back home, I decided that I was going to preserve and survive, even if it meant changing the future (OC/Self Insert, Pairings will be revealed later).





	1. A New World

* * *

_A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step._

_\- Lao Tzu_

* * *

I died.

Just kidding, that would be an extremely cliche way to start off a story. Thankfully, that trope isn't used that often. Because if dying made you appear in another world, I'm pretty sure that _a lot _of people would attempt to kill themselves in order to escape their mundane lives on Earth.

What really happened was simple. On a perfectly average night, I silently prayed that I could escape my continuous cycle of working, sleeping, and resting on Earth. I was only twenty-four years old at the time, yet I was already getting tired of what life had to offer. Sure, I was still young and had decades remaining in my lifespan. Even so, I wanted to live somewhere with more action and adventure, a place where I couldn't predict what would happen the next day. I wasn't very religious, but I prayed to every deity that I knew of. As I finished praying, a voice in the back of my mind whispered gently, stating that my prayers would be granted.

I almost snorted at the imaginary voice in my head, but I asked which deity had answered my prayers instead of answering with a snarky response. The voice answered immediately and claimed that a deity from another world wanted my presence in his world.

Before I could come up with a smart ass response, my consciousness faded away. The last thing I saw during my final moments on Earth was an ordinary soccer poster hanging on my bedroom wall: an image that would replay in my mind whenever I experienced hell in the other world.

* * *

I woke up.

Another cliche way to start off a story, but that single action was what began my journey in the new world. Like a Chinese philosopher once said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Now, what that quote _didn't _tell people was what would happen _after _that first step. The first step was always the easiest... the steps that followed? Not so much.

For me, the second step of my journey consisted of panicking at the fact that I was no longer in my comfortable bedroom in California. Instead, I was in a rather uncomfortable bed in a dimly lit room with a single window. Panic turned into horror as I looked down and realized that I was no longer in an adult male body but in a tiny child's body. I would've freaked out very audibly if I didn't see several children sleeping around me.

Luckily I did, and I wisely kept my mouth shut to not wake up the others.

When I managed to calmly assess the situation, I saw that there were three other beds in my room. All the beds were occupied by boys that looked no older than eight years old. I continued to look around in order to find any clues that would help me identify where I was, but the room was fairly bare. The color of the walls was a dirty white and the ceiling had a single ceiling lamp that was turned off. I spotted a few pieces of furniture scattered throughout the room and a gray door to my right, but nothing in the room gave me any clues to my whereabouts.

After my quick sweep of the room, my eyes gazed out the small window that was filtering in light into the room. The sun was beginning to rise over the mountain that the window was facing. As the light grew brighter and brighter, my eyes recognized the familiar looking faces that were displayed on the cliff side. My head began to spin as I realized that I might have been sent to _that_ world. Within half an hour, my suspicions were confirmed. The sun shone clearly on the stone faces that were sculpted onto the mountain, revealing the facial features of the first three Hokage.

Yes, I did mean _three_ faces. I did read the entire Naruto manga series, and by now, I was aware that I was most likely in a time period before the original show. _Much_ earlier, if the Fourth's face wasn't even up there yet. While I was a bit excited at the prospect of becoming a shinobi, I was also extremely terrified at the fact that if I did become a shinobi, I would most likely die at an old ripe age of 20, if not younger. To make things worse, any foreknowledge that I knew from the Naruto series that _could_ have increased my chances of surviving was all but useless. Even though I did know what would happen in the future, much of the future that I knew of from the series was years off, if not _decades_. I knew bits and pieces of events that happened before the main series, but they were merely that: random pieces of information. The Naruto series was terrible at labeling specific dates on events before the main series, thus I had no idea what would happen to me in the _immediate_ future.

But hey, this was what I wanted right?: an uncertain future, tons of adventure, and almost a bit _too _much action.

I sighed and I shifted out of bed, feeling a bit awkward controlling my new body. I flexed my hands and pinched my cheeks to make sure that this wasn't a dream. After confirming that I was in reality, or in a really vivid dream, I opened the door and trekked out of the room.

The door led me to a narrow hallway with numerous closed doors. The hallway was peacefully silent except for the sound of whispers that came out of several of the doors. I glanced at both sides of the hallway and spotted an open doorway with a bright light shining through. Feeling out of place, I cautiously approached the doorway and stepped through it.

I had half expected the room to be filled with more sleeping children, but I was surprised to discover a bright room littered with toys and books. Paintings drawn by children were strewn across the wall and even a small playground set was present inside the room. The room looked like it belonged in any typical daycare or kindergarten, which I hoped was the case. But I had just woken up in a room filled with other children and had witnessed the sunrise from where I had slept. That could only mean that I was in...

An orphanage.

Before I could take another step forward and come face to face with the reality of the situation, a voice spoke behind me. "Oh, Hiro! It's nice to see you awake so early this morning since you're never eager to wake up early! Are you excited for your first day at the Academy?"

The voice surprised the living hell out of me and I tumbled onto the floor. As I was getting up from the floor, I managed to get a clear view of the person that spoke to me. She was a pretty woman with jet black hair and emerald eyes. Her face showed signs of weariness and age, but she still looked a bit younger than forty years old. From the looks of her outfit, with her apron, Konoha headband, and a nametag that stated her name was "Aina," I concluded that she was a caretaker of this place. She chuckled as she helped me up and dusted my clothes. "Aren't you a bit jumpy today! You better not let any ninjas scare you from behind like that, or you won't be a very good ninja!"

She let out a small laugh at her own joke while I gave her a smile. The joke _was_ pretty amusing and I knew that if what she was saying was correct, then I would be off to the famed ninja Academy in order to become a shinobi. Even though I realized that I didn't need to do _anything_ in order to get into the Academy itself, I was extremely nervous attending the Academy right away. I didn't know anything about myself except for my name, I didn't know _how_ to get to the Academy, I didn't know what time period I was in, and I didn't have any memories of my past "self." I didn't know if I was supposed to act like a brooding emo, a bright ray of sunshine, or just a very basic vanilla character. Thinking quickly, I opted to act like a normal, curious child until I could find out more about "myself."

"Aina-san, when am I supposed to go to the Academy again? I just woke up early because I didn't want to be late." I asked the caretaker, with my best childlike tone. The pitch of my voice was much higher than my usual voice, which annoyed me a bit.

Thankfully, the woman did not treat me with suspicion and instead answered my question, "You're supposed to be at the Academy by nine for the entrance ceremony. It seems like the Hokage himself is coming to welcome all of you into the Academy! As for getting there, I will walk you and the others to the Academy for the first week. Afterward, it is expected that you find the way to the Academy yourselves. You should be _honored_ that he would come to visit you on your first day!"

The lady clapped her hands together as she looked at me with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I almost forgot! Since today will be your and your friends' first day at the Academy, I will be giving all of you some papers that will contain information about yourselves. Once you get to the Academy, you'll need to fill in some paperwork to be officially accepted. After all, we wouldn't want someone as talented as you to be delayed from entering the Academy because of some paperwork! Here, Hiro, I'll give you yours first since you're already awake. Make sure to read it carefully and fill in the paperwork at the Academy _correctly_. Follow _any _and _all _instructions the instructors give you on your first day. We'll be leaving in about an hour and a half to the Academy, so go read over there while you wait!"

She handed me a small packet of papers and gestured to a small table in one of the corners of the room. I internally shrugged and sat down to read the packet that I was given, hoping that the information packet would give me a glimpse of my background. After reading the first few lines, I realized that for some miraculous reason, I was able to read kanji and also understand Japanese. It was as if I had a translation software in my brain, allowing me to comprehend a language I had no familiarity with before. I should've noticed that small fact when I read the caretaker's nametag and when I spoke with the woman, but my mind was reeling for a few minutes after the lady had scared me from behind. I thanked whichever deity had left me with the ability to read and understand Japanese and skimmed through the material.

My full name, according to the information packet, was Hiroyoshi Osato. A picture was stapled to the top left corner of the front page, revealing a small boy with brown hair and light green eyes. I became an orphan after my parents, both of whom were Chunin, were ambushed and killed in an attack by several Kumo ninjas. They were on a standard patrol on the border when a Kumo infiltration team surprised my parents and overwhelmed them. I was five years old at the time. My birthday was July 4th and I was currently seven years old. I snorted a bit when I saw my birthday, as it coincided perfectly with America's independence day. The rest of the packet did not contain any other useful information that I would need to completely assume my Hiroyoshi identity. The only other interesting information to note was that I had taken an aptitude test for the Academy and passed with very high marks. I had no idea what was on the test, but I had to assume that it wasn't a normal test, since the test was for future shinobi. Still, that did mean that I had to make an effort in the Academy and work hard in order to make sure that I maintained my image as a prospect with high potential.

Not that I was going to slack off or relax while I was living here. I was going to make sure to work hard to become a kick-ass shinobi and survive in this harsh world.

While I was reading the information at hand, I saw that several other kids that were going to attend the Academy had woken up and had greeted the caretaker. Aina greeted each and every child personally but repeated nearly word for word what she had said to me earlier, minus the surprise part. As I replayed her words over and over again, I realized that she emphasized and stated a lot of words that my mind hadn't noticed before. Her words were an attempt to make the kids feel special and privileged to enter the Academy. By doing so, the kids were more enthusiastic to go to the Academy and also less inclined to cause mischief or break discipline. Since most of the kids were around my age, they were most likely unaware of the grim realities of the shinobi world.

It also made sense why she had a Konoha headband. If she had a headband, that would mean that she was at least a Genin. She was most likely tasked to watch over the kids here not as a simple D-ranked mission, but to evaluate and to see if any of the kids within the orphanage had the potential to be a shinobi.

Realizing that the caretaker was underhandly manipulating the kids almost made me wish that I was a child, just like the others. But I wasn't a child. And I knew that if I really wanted to survive, then I would need to advance more quickly compared to any of my classmates. In my head, I was already making a list of things that I would prioritize in order to become an accomplished shinobi.

I was still lost in thought when the caretaker gathered all the prospect Academy students around and started to herd us out onto the streets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my newest fanfic!
> 
> It's an idea I had in my mind for the longest time, but something I never really managed to put into words. I'm going to make sure that this story becomes my longest and best writing piece. It should be a bit easier than my other stories since technically I am the main character and POV.
> 
> Just a warning: the dialogue will sound awkward and rough in the beginning. I was trying to portray the awkwardness after Hiro's sudden transfer to a seven-year-old body, but I understand the dialogue is very rough regardless. The writing does get better after Chapter 2, so please do not be deterred or disinterested. 
> 
> No, the OC will not avoid combat or try to run away from the shinobi life. No, the OC will NOT be overpowered or have rare bloodline limits. The OC will gradually grow and acquire skills and abilities. He has a headstart because he's mentally an adult, so he'll have more drive and mental awareness to improve his skills.
> 
> Pairings are not official, but I do have some in mind. And no, I won't go the conventional pairing routes :).
> 
> As always, feel free to comment and critique my work. I will respond to you in the following chapter.
> 
> Till next time.


	2. Into the Unknown

_"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."_

_-H.P. Lovecraft_

* * *

Konoha was much larger than I expected it to be.

When I watched the anime and read the manga, I imagined Konoha to be the size of a large town or a small city, with a lot of open space that was utilized by the shinobi forces. I soon discovered that my assumptions were false as I walked through the town. Konoha was _huge_, with the size of the entire village rivaling the size of San Francisco and even San Jose. The focus of the Naruto series was always on the shinobi forces that operated within Konoha while the civilian aspects were underplayed, which skewed my perception of Konoha significantly. Just the walk from the orphanage to the Academy took around half an hour.

The caretaker was at the front of the group, talking with some of the other orphans and acting as a tour guide for three dozen orphaned children as we went through several neighborhoods. Occasionally, I would nod my head in agreement if I saw everyone else in the group nod in unison. Although I was walking and looking at the kunoichi like the rest of the group, my mind was elsewhere. The walk to the Academy gave me plenty of time to think about my future plans in this world.

A small voice in the back of my mind wanted me to take it easy in the world of shinobi for the time being. After all, I had been transported from _another world_, a world which believed that the world of shinobi was merely fiction and entertainment. Additionally, Konoha itself had much to offer when it came to sightseeing or information. I was merely seven years old in this world, did I really need to jump headfirst into the shinobi life right away?

I shook my small head as I chased away the treasonous thoughts. I knew that whether I wanted it or not, I would be thrown into a war sometime into the future. If the Fourth Hokage's face was not on Hokage Mountain, that would mean there would be _at least _one war around the corner. Wandering around Konoha like a tourist and trying to locate famous locations from the anime could come later. Instead, I made a mental list of all the various aspects that I would need to plan for my shinobi career.

First, I considered what array of skills I wanted to focus on since I would not be able to learn every jutsu and techniques out there. I reviewed the three main categories of shinobi arts that were available to me once I became a shinobi: ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. I already threw out any long term commitments for genjutsu, for a variety of reasons. While I didn't know how large my chakra pool was or how precise my chakra control was, I knew that there were already numerous amounts of clans and bloodlines that were able to produce powerful genjutsu users just from their genetics alone. The Uchiha clan served as a primary example of this as their dojutsu, the Sharingan, allowed them to have an immense headstart and advantage for genjutsu. Even so, I planned to test if I had a hidden aptitude for genjutsu, but if I didn't then I would focus on learning how to _dispel_ genjutsu instead of learning how to _create _it.

Ninjutsu was the area that interested me the most. However, I knew that I couldn't put much hope into that area just yet. At least, not until I determined the size of my chakra pool and my chakra nature. While the idea of using ninjutsu to overwhelm the enemy with sheer firepower was appealing, I knew that my chakra pool would limit the amount of jutsu I could chuck at the enemy. I knew that shinobi could train to expand their chakra pool and develop their chakra coils, but I was sure that there was a limit to those developments that different for every shinobi. Thus, I thought of several contingency plans depending on the size of my chakra pool.

If my chakra pool was on the smaller side, then I would focus on using ninjutsu in small bursts while primarily focusing on speed. While I was determined to improve my speed regardless of the size of my chakra pool, speed would be essential if I was unable to simply overpower the enemy in a battle By training my speed, I could end battles quickly without wasting much chakra. Additionally, I would need to focus more on taijutsu if my chakra reserves were small.

If my chakra reserves were average or somewhat higher than average, then I would place a focus on a balanced focus of both speed and ninjutsu. In essence, I would try to emulate Kakashi's fighting style. I would learn and utilize jutsu that were destructive and use them sparingly while improving my speed to keep my distance or close the gap between my enemies. I expected my reserves to be around this level, since my parents were both _chunin_ level shinobi, after all.

And if by some chance that I was secretly a chakra monster due to a freakish genetic mutation or luck, then I was going to spam shadow clones to learn everything rapidly. Sure, others might consider that method unfair, but life was unfair and I needed every advantage I could get. After all, all was fair in love and war.

But I digress.

As for taijutsu, I planned to use my previous experiences in martial arts that I learned on Earth. I had been a taekwondo black belt, receiving the belt at a fairly young age because I lived in Korea for the first decade of my life. While I only remembered three of the eight black belt forms completely, I knew that would be enough for the beginning of my training. I planned to mix some forms of this world with the Taekwondo forms I remembered to create my own unique fighting style. And I knew that was necessary too since Taekwondo was more defensively orientated.

I pondered on other important skills that could be useful for my shinobi career, my body walking and following the group ahead while on autopilot. Fuuinjutsu was definitely at the top of my list, on par with ninjutsu in terms of interest. While the art was never really explored in depth due to the destruction of the Uzumaki clan, the clan with the most knowledge about fuuinjutsu, I knew that fuuinjutsu was useful and outright dangerous depending on the person utilizing the art. Additionally, the art seemed very underappreciated in the main series and if there were greater unknowns surrounding fuuinjutsu, then enemy shinobi would have a difficult time countering the said art. That was one of the reasons why I was keen on learning fuuinjutsu, but my ultimate goal with fuuinjutsu was rather straightforward.

_Hiraishin no Jutsu_, also known as the Flying Thunder God Technique.

There were other skills to consider too, such as kenjutsu, but my thoughts were set on the areas I had in mind for the time being. After all, trying to do too much would stretch my physical and mental capacities to the brink.

My consciousness drifted back into reality and I looked around to see how far from the academy I was. That was when I realized that the Academy group that next to me just a few minutes ago was no longer nearby. I was in the middle of one of the business districts, with no Academy in sight. I looked around frantically, my eyes scanning every face around me. A feeling of dread settled into my stomach as I realized that I did not recognize anyone in the vicinity. While I could ask for directions, the orphanage caretaker had warned us that the walk would be long and difficult without any help. While I wasn't a particularly punctual person, I did not want to be late on my first day and suffer the consequences.

And if I did not arrive and register in time, there was a chance that I would be dropped from the Academy.

Biting the bottom of my lip in frustration, I looked around to see if there were any prospective Academy students nearby. Since I needed to head towards the Academy right away, I couldn't afford to make the wrong turn and arrive later than expected. I didn't trust my directional skills, as they were terrible. I had discovered this after I acquired my driving license. I needed absolute reassurance that I would arrive at the Academy, at least _somewhat_ on time.

After several minutes of waiting, my eyes glanced over to a tall man and a small girl walking past me. Both individuals had jet black hair and piercing onyx eyes. The man wore a dark blue kimono with a white undershirt and carried himself with dignity. His face was stern and cold, his eyes giving every individual he saw a calculating look. His body radiated a presence, a powerful presence that attracted the attention and respect of nearby civilians.

The girl next to him, which I could only assume was his daughter, looked around my age, at least my _physical_ age. Her hair reached just past her shoulders and her attire was much less formal. She wore a black hoodie, navy blue shorts, and brown sandals. Unlike her father, she seemed a bit more open about her emotions as she greeted civilians on the street with a smile.

That was when I saw the distinct clan marking on the back of the hoodie and kimono that the two wore. The symbol looked like a paper fan, with the top half being red and the bottom half being white. I realized why the marking looked so familiar. It was the same symbol that Sasuke Uchiha wore to denote his clan: the Uchiha clan symbol.

From what I had seen in the series, most Uchiha had a giant stick up their ass or had an ego the size of Asia. But I was running out of time and options, so I swallowed my nervousness and anticipation. I quickly moved my feet to approach the duo and I stopped both of them on their tracks. Both of them looked confused as I bowed to the girl and then to the older Uchiha. "Uchiha-sama, I apologize for bothering you while you are busy. My name is Hiroyoshi Osato and I wanted to ask for help."

I could not see the man's expression as I maintained my bow, but the man was silent for several seconds before he answered. "Raise your head, Hiroyoshi."

I straightened my back and made eye contact with the man I was speaking to. The adult Uchiha maintained his cold steel gaze but seemed a bit intrigued at my presence. "Now then, what request do you have for me and my daughter?

"Today was supposed to be my first day at the Academy and I was separated from the group I was with. I came to you because I saw that your daughter was around the same age as I was. If you were on your way to the Academy, I wanted to request to follow you and your daughter to the Academy." I replied without hesitation. While the man's gaze was piercing, I maintained eye contact with the older Uchiha.

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed as he inspected me from top to bottom, his expression betraying none of his thoughts. "Pray tell me, why should I help you reach the Academy? If you can not reach the Academy by yourself, then are you even worthy to be a shinobi?"

I could hear my own heartbeat as the elder Uchiha's aura suddenly became thicker, choking the very air I was breathing. His eyes flashed as his unrelenting gaze hardened. I almost gasped for air before replying. "I was raised in an orphanage, Uchiha-sama. I have never explored the village. I was separated from my group because I was thinking of my future plans as a shinobi. "

After my reply, the man's daughter opened her mouth to speak but immediately closed it after her father glared at her. He turned his head back towards me and nodded. "And what _are_ your plans, young one?"

"To survive and to become better," I answered without hesitation. While I had only been in Konoha for several hours, I _did _have a strong desire to survive and thrive in the shinobi world. After all, if I didn't, I was as good as dead.

All of a sudden, the pressure that the male Uchiha was exerting receded. The man broke his emotionless facade and let out a small smirk. "Very interesting. Almost no children are able to talk to me when I am emitting my killing intent. I was annoyed since you interrupted my walk with my daughter to her first day at the Academy and wanted you to run away in terror, but it seems that you are _different_ than most. You are rather _mature _for your age and I can see a fiery determination in your eyes."

I internally winced since I _definitely _did not sound like a seven-year old. I did phrase my words to sound a bit more _simplistic_, but I still sounded a bit older than my age suggested. But I hadn't been seven years old for seventeen years, and I honestly didn't know how to pretend to act like a child. Was I supposed to pout every three seconds? Was I supposed to be whiny and annoying? Hell, I couldn't remember what I was like when I was twelve. I vowed to make an effort to sound _younger_, but if I sounded somewhat older than my age, then so be it. Most people would assume that I was just mature for my age. After all, no one would guess that a twenty-four year old man was now stuck in a child's body.

"Father!" The young Uchiha girl gave her father a murderous look as she pulled on his kimono's sleeve, "You promised _not_ to do that to any of my classmates!"

To my surprise, her father let out a small laugh as the girl pouted. "I said only to your _classmates_, Mikoto. Hiroyoshi here is not your classmate just yet."

It was a _bit_ unsettling to see the stoic Uchiha laughing, but my mind was already elsewhere.

_Mikoto, Mikoto. Now, where have I heard that name before__?_ I thought as I watched the two Uchiha interact.

"I realized that I have not yet introduced myself to you! I apologize for my rudeness, little one. My name is Mikio Uchiha and this is my daughter, Mikoto Uchiha. As you may have suspected, today is her first day at the Academy. For passing my small "test," I will allow you to accompany us to the Academy."

That was when I realized who Mikoto was. The young girl's friendliness was what threw me off, as her son's personality was the exact opposite of her personality. Even so, she looked similar to the Last Uchiha and even _dressed_ similarly.

She was Mikoto Uchiha, the _future_ mother of Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha.

After realizing this, I unknowingly stared at her for several seconds before Mikoto's father cleared his throat. "I realize that you may be... _interested _in my daughter, but perhaps you should be more subtle about your staring."

Before I could look away from embarrassment, Mikoto turned to face me after hearing her father's words and caught me gaping at her. She turned slightly pink before looking away.

As I walked alongside the two Uchiha to the Academy, I mentally kicked myself in the head for ogling at Sasuke's mother.

_What a great first impression on the future mother of the most powerful Uchiha to ever live. Or would have been. Damn, Sasuke and Itachi might not even be born anymore because of me._

Then I stopped in the middle of the street, causing the Uchiha duo to turn their heads toward me curiously. _This is only going to get worse when I see Minato or Kushina, isn't it?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit short to set up the story a bit further. The initial few chapters will be a bit short, but the chapters will get longer.
> 
> Now to answer the reviewers:
> 
> -No, the OC will not have a harem. I have two characters so far in my mind for a potential pairing, but I will not force a pairing.  
-Yes, the OC may potentially be recruited into ROOT.  
-And yes, the OC will learn Fuuinjutsu because it's a part of the Naruto universe that is not covered as well as it should be.
> 
> Thank you for your interest in this story and until next time!
> 
> Edit: The reason why the OC is confused towards the end is that he is still thinking in terms of the original series plot. So in his mind, he thinks that Mikoto is Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha's mother, even though they are most likely not going to be born this timeline. This will be the same with other characters as well; he will view them as their main series selves before their "own" selves (for example, the OC will see Minato as the genius 4th Hokage instead of an ordinary boy).


	3. Baby Steps

_Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent._

_-Calvin Coolidge_

* * *

"Do you have something to say to me and Uchiha-sama, Hiroyoshi?" Aina asked, just a hint of anger in her voice as she towered over me.

The caretaker was not a very tall woman, standing around five feet three inches. If I had been in my old body, I would have easily been at least a half a foot taller than her. However, in my current body, I was merely half of her size.

And it was frustrating.

Even more frustrating was the fact that I was being _scolded_ at the age of twenty-four. Technically, I was seven years old and I understood that I was being scolded because she assumed I was a child. Even so, it felt _irritating _since I was mentally an adult. And it didn't help that Mikio was watching the whole scene unfold with a smirk. When I arrived at the Academy with the two Uchiha, I was scolded by Aina rather harshly. That was when I discovered that Mikio Uchiha was the _head _of the Uchiha clan while Mikoto was the heiress. That was why the orphanage caretaker was making a scene in front of the Academy; in her eyes, disturbing the Uchiha head while he was going about his business was a grave sin.

Instead of making a smartass comment, I bowed my head to the two adults. "I'm sorry for causing you both trouble, Aina-san and Uchiha-sama."

The Uchiha male waved his hand. "It was no trouble at all. Hiro kept my daughter entertained while we walked here. Do not punish him too severely."

"Of course, Uchiha-sama. I also apologize for losing sight of him and disturbing your walk with your daughter." The caretaker replied.

Mikio gave her a curt nod before walking away with his daughter. He gave me a small smile as he turned away, while Mikoto gave me an enthusiastic wave while saying, "I'll see you later, Hiro-chan!"

I gave the girl a genuine smile and a friendly wave in return. While the girl was young and immature, she was rather easy to talk to and was just as excited as I was to join the Academy. Despite my orphan status and my adult-like attitude, she had no issue treating me as a friend and even Mikio had no qualms of her talking to me. And I wasn't against befriending the young Uchiha heiress. After all, she was friendly and was a powerful ally that could help me in the future.

It certainly didn't hurt to make connections and relationships at a young age.

When the Uchiha pair was out of earshot, Aina turned to me and pinched her lips together, "I'm sorry about that, Hiroyoshi, but I needed to act strictly in front of you at least while Uchiha-sama was still here. You'll learn in the Academy why the Uchiha clan is respected in Konoha. I suggest you don't talk to Uchiha-sama's daughter, as she is the clan heiress and the Uchiha clan might not look kindly if you decided to befriend her."

"But Uchiha-sama didn't mind when I talked to her before." I wondered out loud, visibly confused about her statement.

Aina shook her head and stared sternly into my eyes, "It was most likely because you were lost and he was feeling generous. Do _not_ take his kindness for granted and be wary around the Uchiha heiress. Do you understand?"

I didn't, but I nodded anyway. I decided to see how the first few days would play out with Mikoto before making any final judgments. I assumed it was due to the reputation and prestige of the Uchiha clan, and if that was the case, it would explain why the clan was so isolated from the rest of the village. With the village either fearing or revering the Uchiha clan, it was no wonder why the clan was so _remote_ despite being the most prestigious clan in the village.

Satisfied with my response, Aina grabbed my hand and led me through the Academy gates. "Come on, Hiroyoshi. We need to take you to the office to finish your registration!"

I took a deep breath and breathed out as I walked through the entrance and towards the Academy.

* * *

I finished filling out my registration forms and excused myself from the office to head towards my class. The registration process was mundane, like all the registration processes I went through on Earth. The only interesting moment during my hour stay in the registration office was when I discovered that the waiver form _basically _allowed Konoha to use me as a military asset anytime in the future. The waiver form didn't outright state this, but it _did _imply that once I joined the Academy, I would be under the direct command of the Hokage and the shinobi forces. If I signed it, it signified that I accepted all the responsibilities headed my way after joining the Academy. If I graduated from the Academy and became a Genin, I would formally become a member of the Konoha Shinobi Forces. If I graduated but failed to become a Genin, I would be on the Reserve Forces and would continue shinobi training until the village deemed that I was unfit for duty. If I failed to graduate the Academy in total, then I would be allowed to leave the Academy and return to civilian duties, but I would be placed in the Civilian Militia for twenty years. I didn't even know Konoha _had_ a civilian militia.

Basically, no matter what my results were at the Academy, I was pretty much doomed to be a soldier or a shinobi for the next few decades.

I still signed the damn piece of paper.

After signing all the forms, the teacher in the office handed me a bag filled with basic school supplies and gently pointed me towards the direction of my classroom. I was assigned to Class 1-A, which was one of the five classes for first-year Academy students. The students were assigned to classes based on their aptitude test score, which I scored fairly high on. Class 1-A was considered the top scoring class, with all the children of shinobi or ex-shinobi assigned to the class. I was nervous, but at the same time thrilled to finally learn shinobi arts.

As I turned into the hallway where my class was located, I saw a lone figure exit classroom 1-A. The figure wore white robes and a hat that had the kanji for "Fire." Without even looking at his facial features, I instantly knew who the person was: Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konoha. Even from a distance, I managed to make out the features of his face. He looked distinctly younger than his main Naruto series counterpart, as he sported a brown beard instead of an elderly white that I was used to. Excited at the prospect of meeting the Hokage, I stepped forward to introduce myself to the man. However, before I could do so, the man disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

When the smoke cleared, the Hokage had disappeared and in his place stood a shinobi wearing a chunin vest. I swiftly moved out of the hallway and waited a moment before taking a look around the corner. The chunin looked around for a brief moment before walked to the opposite end of the hallway. After he had left, I took an uneasy step forward and made my way to the place where the Hokage had been just a moment before.

_A henge... Probably because the Hokage was busy. _I scratched the back of my head as I looked down the hall. _Not too surprising, but still, a lie they tell the students in order to make a permanent impression on them._

There was no doubt _why_ the village would lie to the students by pretending the Hokage would care enough to visit on their first day at the Academy. It left a mark on the students and made them feel _important_. Since they were now shinobi in training, the Hokage was their leader and the visit was planned to show that he cared for their wellbeing and training. Most of all, it created _loyalty_ to both the Hokage and the village itself. I was certain that this was done in _all_ the classrooms for first-year students. Konoha was seen as a "benevolent" village in the main series, but it was still a ninja village that sought to gain more power and strength.

I shook my head at the implications. The moral gap between my world and the Naruto world was huge, but I knew I needed to cross that gap. A single bead of sweat rolled down my neck as I reached to open the doors as I took my first steps to numb my moral consciousness from Earth.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I entered an ordinary classroom with nearly three dozen children. All the children were excitedly talking, and I heard many of them talk about the "Hokage" that had just visited them. The only adult in the room was a chunin instructor that stood behind a podium at the front of the room. When I entered, he gave me a tiresome look before looking down at his clipboard. "Hiroyoshi Osato?"

I gave the man the most innocent smile I could form with my mouth as I nodded my head. "Yes, sensei. I'm sorry for being late."

The chunin lazily waved his hand towards an open seat at the back of the classroom, "Don't worry, I was told that you would be a bit late. Go to your seat and we'll begin our first lesson."

I turned my head towards the direction he pointed and saw that my seat was next to a boy with spiky, black hair that was tied up neatly. The boy looked engrossed reading a book and was unaware of his surroundings. Even as I sat down next to him, the boy kept on reading, his attention unfazed by my sudden arrival. I managed to catch a glimpse of the title which simply stated "Shogi Tactics: The Art of Strategy."

Before I could even greet the person next to me, the chunin at the front clapped loudly to grab the class's attention. "Alright, that's enough! We have all the students in the classroom now, so we will begin class! Just because today is your first day and all of you are in the highest class, does _not _mean I will go easy on you. Understood?"

"Yes, sensei," I chorused along with the rest of the class.

When the chunin began his lecture, the black-haired boy closed his book and placed it on his desk. I half expected him to continue reading, but he seemed unusually engrossed in the teacher's lecture, even though the lecture was more of an introductory speech than an actual lesson. Nevertheless, I also paid close attention to the chunin and jotted down useful notes, but I glanced sideways at my neighbor a few times throughout the lecture.

In a flash, the morning lecture ended and it quickly became lunchtime. As the other students in the class stood up to go to the cafeteria, I seized upon the chance to introduce myself to the person next to me. While the spiky-haired boy seemed reclusive, he looked as though he was vested in his studies and had a mature aura surrounding him. In my mind, he was the perfect person to befriend.

I stuck out my hand and smiled at my neighbor, who was slowly standing up. "My name is Hiro. Nice to meet you!"

He looked at me with his calculating onyx eyes and grunted as he shook my hand, "Shikaku. Nara Shikaku. Can I ask why you something?"

"Sure!"

"Why were looking at me so much during the sensei's lecture?"

"Er..." I was taken aback by his bluntness and his keen observational skills, but I responded quickly, "I saw that you were reading a book on shogi tactics and paying close attention to the lecture. I thought maybe you were studious and interested in learning as I am, so I wanted to ask if you could be my friend and study together?"

Instead of answering immediately, Shikaku inspected me thoroughly and rubbed his chin. In my mind, I was slightly panicking as I knew that Shikaku was Shikamaru's father and if anyone could figure out that something was "off" about me, it would be him. After several long seconds, the Nara let out a tight smile but nodded, "Sure."

I waited for him to say something, but after a few moments, an awkward silence had engulfed the two of us. Instead of trying to force a conversation, I grinned and started moving towards the door, "Let's get lunch together, Shikaku-san!"

Just like his future son, Shikaku sighed deeply and muttered, "Troublesome" as he moved. However, as I was about to step out of the classroom, someone poked me on the shoulder. When I turned around, I came face to face with none other than Mikoto Uchiha, who grinned widely at me. "Hi, Hiro-chan!"

My mind was conflicted when I saw her approach me. On one hand, I didn't mind befriending Mikoto. Based on my earlier conversations with her, she seemed rather lonely and isolated due to her clan heir status and was eager to make friends. On the other hand, I didn't want to potentially piss off the Uchiha Head or Aina. Although I had told myself that I would approach Mikoto on my own at a later date, I should've expected her to approach me directly. Especially since she was in the same class as I was, which was unsurprising due to her status.

"I was waving earlier at you in class, but you seemed really focused on the teacher," Mikoto pouted, "Come on! Let's go eat! I'm starving!"

Despite my reluctance, she grabbed my hand and dragged me away. Shikaku followed behind us, looking more amused than annoyed.

While I still had some reservations about hanging with the Uchiha heiress, I decided that I would stick with Mikoto for the time being. Despite the stern warning from Aina earlier, I didn't want prejudice or assumptions to dictate my course of action. Sure, Aina told me that the Uchiha clan might not like me if I befriended Mikoto, but she didn't speak for the Uchiha clan. And Mikio didn't look particularly angry or annoyed when I spoke with Mikoto either.

For now, I smiled and chatted amicably with Shikaku and Mikoto as the three of us headed towards the dining hall. I would deal with any potential consequences later.

* * *

"You may begin."

Without hesitation, I pushed my fist towards my opponent's torso. My first struck the boy's chest with force, making him cry out in pain. I didn't stop to make sure he was alright and pressed forward with my attack, feigning a strike towards his legs and then attacking him in his stomach. To my opponent's credit, he managed to reflexively block my feint but wasn't fast enough to block the punch to his gut.

The male first-year student, who had blue hair and green eyes, staggered backward from the blows. However, he was surprisingly tenacious as he rocked forward for a counterattack. He let out a flurry of rapid, but weak punches in an attempt to overwhelm my defenses. Despite the size of my body, I was fairly strong and fast for my age, and I used this to my advantage to block and dodge most of the hits. I endured the few that went through, but I persisted and waited for an opening. The punches stung, but none of them were solid enough to knock me off balance.

Finally, after observing his attacks and stance, I blocked a punch heading towards my neck and swung out my elbow to hit him in the face. The elbow made contact with his forehead and the boy fell, stunned from the sudden blow. Seizing upon this opportunity, I grabbed his shoulder and pinned him into the ground.

The chunin overwatching our fight came in between the two of us and separated us. "Winner is Hiroyoshi. Good work to the both of you. Return back to your classroom, you're finished with sparring today."

I nodded wordlessly and held out my hand for my opponent to shake. Despite being roughed up, the boy smiled and shook my hand enthusiastically. While the chunin had told me to return to the classroom, I knew there was still a bit of time left until the next class started. Instead of returning right away, I opted to remain behind and watch Shikaku and Mikoto spar, who were sparring in different rings around the courtyard.

Since I entered the Academy over a year and a half ago, I trained and studied tirelessly to achieve my future goals. Thanks to my adult mentality and memories, I breezed through most of the coursework. As a first-year Academy student, I was stuck in the classroom during the majority of my time at the Academy. My class and I did go out to exercise every other day, but they were usually just basic conditioning programs to help build up endurance and strength. Despite the lack of physical training at the Academy, I trained independently during my free time: practicing katas and doing additional strength training. Thus, when my classmates and I started sparring after becoming second-year students, I was considerably ahead of the others.

During this time, I discovered that my two closest friends in the Elemental Nations were just as studious and motivated as I was. While Shikaku was similar to Shikamaru in many ways, he was a tad more driven and ambitious compared to his future son. I found out that the Nara was the clan heir and would immediately become the new clan head once he reached the rank of jonin. As a result, he had no problems studying and training with me on a daily basis. Even though he seemed reluctant at times, I knew that in his heart, he was eager to improve. He was still somewhat guarded around me and Mikoto, but he was slowly warming up to us.

On the other hand, Mikoto was much more open and friendly to me and Shikaku. Unlike her future children, Mikoto was cheerful and bright. She did try to act serious when she was studying or training, but the Uchiha heiress was generally outgoing and friendly. Despite her carefree attitudes, I saw glimpses of her facade as the Uchiha heiress leak out at times, mainly in front of adults and civilians. Thankfully, Aina's warnings turned out to be false as no one from the Uchiha clan attempted to stop me from hanging out with her. In fact, Mikoto preferred training and studying with me and Shikaku instead of returning to the Uchiha District, which was something I never asked her about. If she had her reasons, then she would tell us in the future. The last thing I wanted was to intrude the privacy of a child.

When I looked around to find either of my two best friends, I found Shikaku just as he finished up his spar. While Shikaku was slower than I was, his strikes were more _surgical. While _I relied on strength and speed to beat my opponents, Shikaku was able to find the smallest openings in an opponent's defense and exploit it to his advantage. I watched him block several punches and kicks and strike back with a palm to his opponent's throat. Soon afterward, he followed up with locked his right leg onto his adversary's legs, sweeping the student off his feet. Once he was declared the winner, Shikaku bowed to his opponent and turned towards me, "How did I do?"

I rolled my eyes as I patted his shoulder, "Great, like always. Your leg sweep looked a bit off balance and you took too many hits before you counterattacked, but other than that, I didn't see any glaring flaws during your fight."

Shikaku rubbed the back of his neck, "I still have ways to go before I can catch up to you in sparring. Do you mind sparring with me after school?"

While Shikaku was talented in his own right, I was better than him when it came to taijutsu. On the first day of taijutsu lessons, I was paired up with Shikaku and knocked him onto the floor within a minute. Since then, the two of us had grown in stride, but I still held the upper hand when we sparred. Thankfully, Shikaku didn't hold a grudge against me for beating him in spars; if anything, the spars motivated him to practice harder.

"Sure! We haven't received a lot of homework today, so we can go to our usual training place," I answered with a reassuring smile.

The Nara heir nodded slowly and looked at another fight that was occurring some distance away, "Looks like Mikoto is about to beat up her opponent."

I turned to look at Mikoto and her opponent and almost laughed due to the facial expression. Mikoto was extremely serious during fights, and her facial expression clearly showed. Her usual smile was replaced by a rigid scowl as she relentlessly let out a torrent of assaults to overwhelm her female opponent. The fight ended when the Uchiha's foe forfeited the match, sporting a colorful array of bruises on her arms. Mikoto's face relaxed and her trademark smile reappeared when she spotted her friends, "Hiro-chan! Shika-chan! You guys finished really early!"

"Well, it's because we decided to actually beat our opponents instead of using them as punching bags," I teased, gesturing to Mikoto's unfortunate opponent. The girl was sitting on a bench with a medic, who was healing her arms as best as she could.

Mikoto blushed as she joined us in stride, "I was trying out the new katas that I learned from father. I'm still practicing them, so I was getting a few of the movements wrong."

I mentally shuddered at the fact that Mikoto managed to completely dominate an opponent while using new fighting moves that she had barely practiced. While I was one of the best students at taijutsu in my class, Mikoto was towards the top of the rankings as well. Her speed and tact during spars were almost second to none. Whenever we sparred at the Academy or at the training grounds, we would usually be even throughout the match.

Outwardly, I gave her a broad grin and patted her shoulders, "You did fantastic, Mikoto. I could hardly keep up with your movements. Shikaku and I were going to head to the training ground to get some extra practice in after school ends, do you want to come along?"

The Uchiha heiress' eyes gleamed, "Do you even need to ask?"

As we were chatting between ourselves, a chunin instructor came up to us and frowned, "It's time to go back to your classroom, students. We have a special guest instructor coming in today for the next lecture, so you'll be learning some brand new material."

"What are we learning?" Shikaku asked, suddenly looking very interested in what the chunin had to say.

The chunin gave him a wry grin, "You'll find out if you go inside, so get moving."

* * *

After everyone had gathered in the classroom, the "main" chunin instructor, a male shinobi named Kimura Yasutoki, walked to the front of the room and quieted us down, "Alright kids, listen up! We were originally going to start our class on jutsu much later, but one of my old friends from the Academy wanted to help out today. He was insistent on helping you get started on using jutsu early, so you'll be learning some chakra theory and an E-rank jutsu today."

Some of my classmates let out cheers as they were excited to learn how to use jutsu. As for me, I was entertainingly observing my classmates, as I had already practiced the Academy Three jutsu beforehand. While the Academy Three jutsu weren't taught till the end of the year, but I had learned them from Mikoto and Shikaku, who had both learned it early on due to their respective clan statuses. The three jutsu were much more difficult than the anime had made them out to be, but I was slowly getting the hang of it. The most difficult part of learning to use jutsu was controlling my chakra since I had never used chakra before the Academy.

Chunin Yasutoki slammed his clipboard onto the board and glared at the students, "I know all of you are excited to finally learn a jutsu, but be respectful of your guest lecturer. He's a busy man, but he took some time off his schedule to teach since he loves to teach. _All _of you are to be on your best behaviors, am I clear?"

A wave of affirmatives swept the room, satisfying the academy instructor. "Good, I'll bring him in now."

The chunin stepped outside for a few moments and stepped back in with a male shinobi by his side. The shinobi had long, pale blue hair and emerald eyes, which sparkled when his eyes swept the room. He wore a standard Leaf shinobi outfit, wearing a pocketless flak vest and black pants. Although I had never seen him before during my time in the Hidden Leaf, he looked vaguely familiar.

"My name is Dan Kato, and I'll be your instructor for today!" The man gave a friendly smile to the students.

I pounded my right fist into the palm of my hand. Of course, he looked familiar, he was Tsunade's boyfriend! Since the Second Shinobi War hadn't happened yet, the blue-haired shinobi was still alive and kicking. I had read about his abilities and remembered that he was a fairly formidable jonin.

My mind refocused on the jonin as he continued his lesson. "Now I know all of you are excited to learn a jutsu, but before we get started, we'll be going over some basic information to broaden your knowledge of chakra and jutsu. In order to use a jutsu, you need to utilize the chakra within you and mold it. In class, you should have learned that chakra is created when you mold two different forms of energy. Can anyone tell me what the two forms are?"

Only a few hands were raised in the air, with my hand being one of them. Dan scanned the room and turned to look at me. He pointed at my direction, "Yes! And your name, please."

"Hiroyoshi," I responded, "The two energies are physical energy and spiritual energy."

"Hiroyoshi is correct!" Dan exclaimed jotting the words "physical" and "spiritual" onto the board, "In order to use a jutsu, these two energies are absolutely necessary. Now, can anyone tell me what the two energies are and how they can be trained?"

This time, Shikaku answered the question, "Name is Nara, Shikaku Nara. The physical energy is collected from our body's cells directly and can be trained by doing physical exercise such as running or lifting weights. The spiritual energy is derived from our minds and can be trained through mental workouts such as studying and meditating."

Dan beamed at Shikaku, who muttered a very faint "Troublesome." "Excellent work Shiakku! And you are correct! The physical energy is our body while the spiritual energy is our mind. You can not live without the other, and the same thing applies to chakra. If you attempted to mold chakra without one of the energies, you will fail to use any jutsu as you will be unable to mold chakra properly. One of the reasons why I'm telling you this is that it is important to train both your _mind _and your _body._ I'm sure some of you hate exercise, while others hate studying, but it is important to balance the two and work hard in order to become great shinobi."

"The other reason is that you will be tired by the end of this lesson. Since your bodies and your minds haven't fully been trained or developed, you will be exhausted after trying the jutsu a couple of times. Especially since none of you have any experience practicing chakra control! Don't be discouraged if you run out of chakra very fast! With practice, you will learn how to control your chakra effectively and grow your chakra reserves. Now before I bore everyone from my lecture, let's begin the practical part of the lesson."

The jonin walked in front of the podium and demonstrated the hand seals needed for the technique, "The jutsu you will be practicing today is called the Transformation Jutsu. It is a useful little jutsu that will let you take the appearance of anyone or anything you want. And yes, you _can_ transform into the Hokage with this jutsu. However, I highly advise that you _don't_ try to transform into the Hokage, as it is illegal. For today, you will try to transform into your chunin instructor with this jutsu. The hand seals are fairly simple: Dog, Boar, and then Ram. Remember, the most important part of the Transformation Jutsu is to study your target in detail and then making sure to create a _balance__d _henge. You don't want to be shorter or fatter than your target once you transform."

A cloud of smoke covered Dan and when the smoke cleared, Dan had disappeared and was replaced with an identical twin of Chunin Kimura. The students clapped excitedly and looked at their jonin lecturer in awe as he transformed back into his original appearance.

"I will let you all practice the hand seals and the jutsu for some time. All of you are free to move around and help one another learn the jutsu. If you need any help, feel free to ask me or Kimura. After about thirty minutes, I will have all the students go one by one to see who transformed into Kimura the best. Whoever does the best will earn a special prize from me! Don't be discouraged if you don't do well though, you will get better with more practice. Today, I just want to see your best effort," The blue-haired ninja gave everyone a thumbs up and smiled, "So... Begin!"

The two adults stepped to the side and the students began to mingle amongst themselves. Instinctively, I looked around for Shikaku and Mikoto and found them huddled together towards the back of the classroom. When I joined them, Shikaku leaned inward as he smirked at us, "We might not be the only students to have practiced the Transformation Jutsu beforehand, so let's spend our time wisely. We'll work together, but remember this is a competition."

Despite his monotone voice, the Nara heir had a noticeable grin on his face. Just by looking at his expression, I knew that Shikaku was excited to test out his skills. My face and Mikoto's face mirrored his.

For the next half an hour, we keenly observed our chunin instructor more than ever before. I noted all the key details of the teacher and made sure to memorize the most noticeable wrinkles and lines on his face. His dark brown hair was tamed but had a few baby hairs sticking out towards the front. From a glance, his eyes looked green, but after closer inspection, I realized that the light distorted his eye color and his true eye color was a light brown. He was approximately five feet nine inches and wore the standard chunin attire.

When I was satisfied with the information I have gathered, I began to shape a mental image into my head and molded the chakra to bend to my will. The inner energy that was within me beckoned to my call and began to flow through my body like a river. When I wasn't focused on molding chakra, I usually didn't feel any different than my normal self. But when I closed my eyes and focus, I could almost visualize the chakra pouring out of my reserves. After several seconds of concentration, I began the hand seals.

Dog.

Boar.

Ram.

I was covered by a considerable amount of smoke, more smoke than when Dan did the jutsu. But when I looked down at myself, I found myself looking identical to my homeroom instructor. I touched my face to see if everything had changed and confirmed that my facial features had changed also.

What the anime never mentioned was how _weird_ it felt when shinobi changed appearances using the Transformation Jutsu. It felt like I was wearing a bodysuit of the chunin instructor and everything, including my junk, felt _extremely_ wrong and uncomfortable. It got a bit better as time wore on, but as I inspected myself, I felt like I was a lizard person hiding as a human in disguise.

It was cool but unnerving.

Standing next to me, both Shikaku and Mikoto were also doing the Transformation Jutsu. The three of us all looked at each other closely to detect any flaws. Mikoto pointed out that the lines on my forehead were too deep while I mentioned that Shikaku's henge was a bit too short. We slowly fixed the flaws that we found and then separated for the last ten minutes to practice by ourselves.

I wanted to spot any additional mistakes, so I walked out of the classroom and walked towards the bathroom in order to inspect myself in the mirror. Before I could enter the bathroom, I heard two adults speaking amongst themselves inside.

"Poor kids, they won't know what's coming..."

"So the rumors are true then. I've heard that more and more teams are being sent to the border. It looks like Iwa and Suna are gearing up to attack us."

I stopped in my track and edged a little closer to the pair of voices speaking inside the bathroom.

"Not right away, but probably in a year or two. Suna still needs time to get ready, since they were under our thumb after the first war. But once they're ready, the two villages will probably launch a joint invasion."

"And Hokage-sama is just _watching_ them?"

"I'm sure he's doing something about it. But the war is inevitable. All the villages want revenge and glory. That damn Tsuchikage _especially_ wants revenge for Iwa's defeat in the first war."

"That's why Dan's here? To advance their training a bit?"

"Yep, and he wanted to train the kids. He used to be here all the time back in the days."

I strained to listen in further, but the two chunin walked out of the bathroom noiselessly. I flinched at their sudden appearance, but neither of them looked like they cared as they walked right past me. I ran inside the bathroom and saw that my henge was still up. I almost forgot the reason why I even came into the bathroom because hearing the side conversation between the two chunin instructors threw me for a loop.

War was coming, and I was on a collision course right for it.

I gulped nervously as I looked at the figure in the mirror. Maybe if I was a chunin, I would be ready to weather the storms of war that was on its way to the Leaf. But I wasn't even a Genin, I was a mere academy student. If a war was coming within a year or two, I would _probably_ be safe within the village due to my age, but desperate times often called for desperate measures. If the Leaf was against _two_ great villages, then the Hokage would most likely pump out recruits from the academy and send them as meat shields to the front. After all, there wasn't a strict age minimum in order to become a Genin. If the instructors and the Hokage thought I was ready to fight and die for the village, then I would be sent to the front regardless of my own opinion.

Suddenly, I felt pressed for time. The last year and a half I spent training seemed inadequate and unsatisfactory. If I wanted to survive, and also make sure that my _friends_ survived, then I would need to improve.

I walked out of the bathroom with both of my hands balled into tight fists.

* * *

Dan gave me a pat on the back as he looked down at me, "Great work today, Hiroyoshi! Since you had the best henge in the entire class, here's the special prize I mentioned earlier!"

Shikaku and Mikoto awaited silently on the side while I received a colorful pencil case from the blue-haired shinobi. The other students had been excused early for the day, as the exercise had tired many of them out. However, since I won the "competition" in class, I stayed behind to receive my prize from the guest instructor. Shikaku grimaced as I graciously accepted the prize, no doubt a bit sore for being edged out in the contest.

"I probably won't see you for a while, but keep on working hard and get better!" Dan gave me a gentle smile as he ruffled my hair, "You're going to be a great shinobi one day, I can feel it."

As he was walking away, I gripped tightly on his pants, "Wait, Dan-sama!"

The jonin blinked a few times as he glanced at me, "Please, no need to call me "sama." Just call me "san" instead."

"Dan-san," I said, correcting my earlier remark, "I want to ask if you can train me and my friends."

"Well, you have the academy instructors to help train you, or are you asking for more advanced training?" Dan asked, squatting down to match my height.

"My friends and I want to do advanced training since we're already ahead of the others," I swallowed before I continued, hoping he would be sympathetic to what I had to say, "I heard from one of my friends that war might be coming soon and I want to be ready. My parents died due to enemy shinobi and if there's a war, I want to make sure that none of my loved ones die. Like my friends Shikaku and Mikoto."

I could see the wheels turning in Dan's head as he comprehended what I was saying. Meanwhile, my two friends looked both surprised at my sudden request but looked interested at what I was saying. Shikaku gave me a nod of encouragement while Mikoto blushed and looked away.

"I'm sorry," My heart dropped when I heard those words, but Dan wasn't finished, "You're only eight years old, but you're already worrying about the lives of your friends. You're far too young to worry about _surviving_, but I _understand_. I was also an orphan from a young age..."

He stopped to wipe his eyes, which had moistened from my words, "I'm an active jonin, but I'll be grounded in the village for some time. I'll help all of you train until I have to go on missions again. If you want to learn anything, just come to me and I'll do my best to teach you. I have to go now, but meet me at training ground fourteen after you finish classes tomorrow."

Dan puffed out of existence and disappeared, leaving only a small cloud of smoke behind. I thanked the heavens that the plan worked out, but my thoughts were interrupted when a person cleared their throat behind me. I came face to face with Mikoto, who was giving me an adoring gaze, "So we're one of your "loved ones" now, huh?"

I crossed my arms and looked at her, "Yes, you two are. And if you don't want to train with me, then you don't need to."

"Are you kidding? We're a team, remember?" Mikoto grinned, "It's a chance to learn more cool stuff too!"

A ghost of a smile appeared on Shikaku's face, "We'll do this together."

I put my arms around their shoulders and began to walk towards the door, "Let's get ready for tomorrow then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was more of a filler chapter like the last one. More action will start in the next chapter, you'll see Hiro training under Dan and even working with someone with a similar name as Dan.
> 
> The war will start before Hiro turns into a Genin, but he'll still fight in the war.
> 
> In regards to the age difference between Minato/Kushina and Mikoto, I will be changing the ages slightly to make Mikoto only a year older than Minato/Kushina (same age as OC). I apologize if any of the readers were confused about the age.
> 
> Feel free to comment or ask any questions in the review section down below! Thank you for your support!


	4. Persistence

_ **Disclaimer: Naruto was created by Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own anything related to the Naruto universe. This story is protected by Title 17 of the United States Code, under the fair use doctrine.** _

* * *

_"Success isn't always about greatness. It's about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come."_

_-Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson_

* * *

Training ground fourteen was smaller than most of the other training grounds and contained only a few trees and a pond. I took a quick look around to see if Dan had arrived in advance, but found no traces of the blue-haired ninja. Mikoto and Shikaku were both standing next to me and were also on the lookout for our teacher. None of us thought that this was strange, as Dan _was_ a jonin and did tell us that he had jonin duties to do before training us. While we were waiting, we began to do light warmups to get ready for whatever training the jonin threw at us. After several minutes of waiting, a blue blur flew into one of the sparse trees in the training ground. When I turned to look at the tree, I caught sight of our temporary teacher, "Sorry I'm late! I was visiting one of my old genin teams and lost track of time."

"It's no problem Dan-san! We were just getting warmed up for your training!" Mikoto exclaimed, "What type of training are we doing today?"

Dan scratched the top of his head as he looked at us individually, "I remember all three of you since you three were at the top of your class for the Transformation Jutsu. Since you all have a basic understanding of molding and controlling chakra, I'll get you started on some more advanced chakra control training."

The jonin jumped off the tree and landed on the ground with a loud thump. "Alright so, from what I understand, you guys started on the Leaf Concentration exercise a few weeks ago, correct?"

My friends and I nodded in unison, the three of us practiced that exercise on a daily basis. I knew that chakra control was vital for a variety of different jutsu and arts, so I put a special emphasis on the training early on. Our nods made Dan clap his hands together, "Excellent! The Leaf Concentration exercise is great for building up your chakra control in the beginning. Since you have to focus your chakra to make sure that the leaf is rotating and balancing on your forehead, it helps you develop your ability to focus chakra to a certain point. _However_, it is not nearly enough to prepare you to use jutsu that are C-ranked or above. The exercise is more than enough for you to start using E-rank, such as the Transformation Jutsu and the Substitution Jutsu, but you'll find it difficult to use advanced jutsu with just the Leaf Concentration Exercise alone."

"Which is why I have brought the three of you here today," Dan gestured to the trees and the pond in the training ground, "From now on, this will be our designated training place. I will give you exercises to practice with and I will spend a few hours each week training the three of you. When I'm not here, I expect all of you to train hard here, at home, or at the academy. If anyone asks, you're getting tutored by Jonin Dan Kato."

Dan paused and looked around before continuing, "Now for the exercise, I'll teach you today, it's an exercise that is a step above the Leaf Concentration exercise as it helps you develop better chakra control. It's called the "Tree Climbing" exercise, and it's exactly as it sounds. You'll be climbing the tree with solely your feet. The point of this exercise is to be able to control and maintain your chakra perfectly while moving up the tree. You'll have to make sure that each step you take has the perfect amount of chara so that you don't fall off."

I cracked a smile when I heard him talk about the Tree Climbing exercise. I had seen it in the anime and it felt odd that I knew about the exercise despite being assumed as an "ignorant" academy student.

"But there's a twist; you're going to do the Tree Climbing exercise _as_ you do the Leaf Concentration exercise."

_I'm sorry, what?_

I didn't say those words out loud, but my jaws dropped in surprise as I disbelievingly looked at the man. Mikoto's reaction was similar to mine, while Shikaku only widened his eyes slightly more than usual. The jonin eyes' flashed playfully as he gave us a knowing grin, "Sounds difficult, huh? For you kids, it'll be _really_ difficult. Freshly graduated genin are barely able to do the Tree Walking Exercise, but you'll be doing that _and_ the Leaf Concentration exercise _at the same time_. I have several reasons why I'm starting you off with this exercise combo."

"The first reason..." Dan placed a leaf on his forehead and began to walk vertically onto a nearby tree without breaking a stride, "...is _balance_. I don't mean just your balance as in just your physical balance, but your chakra balance as well. I lectured you yesterday about the two types of energy that are needed for chakra molding: physical and spiritual. The Tree Walking exercise will help you sharpen your ability to maintain balance while molding chakra. If you use too much physical energy, which is when you use "excessive" chakra, then you will splinter the tree while you walk on it. This often happens when you focus on using your physical body too much while climbing, thus pushing more chakra into your steps than you realize."

As a demonstration, his next step on the tree was heavier than his previous steps, resulting in the tree cracking under his feet. "If you use too much spiritual energy, it's the opposite. You're using too little chakra for each step because you're thinking too hard about walking up. You become too focused on maintaining chakra on your feet, thus you neglect the actual _act_ of taking a step. In battle, you can never let one side completely dominate the other. Otherwise, your body will not respond to what the mind is saying and vice versa. This is why it's _imperative_ that you study hard _and_ exercise hard. If you place too much emphasis on a single side, then your body's energy will naturally shift to that side. Once that happens, it becomes harder to maintain a balance while molding chakra and in some cases, prevent you from utilizing your chakra effectively."

I found myself interested in what he was saying because the anime never covered the specifics in such detail. In a way, what Dan was saying made sense. It was probably the reason why Naruto and Sasuke failed numerous times when doing the Tree Walking exercise. Naruto focused too much on the physical energy, trying to brute force his way to the top. Meanwhile, Sasuke was obsessed with completing the exercise and allowed his spiritual energy to dominate.

"As for why I'm combining it with the Leaf Concentration exercise... It will help you keep your focus on two things at once. Since you have to maintain the leaf on your head and make sure you're using the right amount of chakra to rotate it, it can be seen as a _much_ simpler version of the Tree Walking exercise. By doing both at once, you're increasing your ability to focus on two difficult tasks at once and maintaining balance through two contact points on your body."

"Which brings me to the _second _reason: _focus._ As a shinobi, you will be required to focus on several things at once. The exercise combo will help you learn how to focus on two difficult tasks at the same and adjust your chakra and body to suit your needs instantly. This will also allow you to become less reliant on hand seals for jutsu, as you will be able to mold and focus chakra however you like _immediately_. Handseals are to help you _focus _your chakra on the jutsu you will use. Which is why more powerful jutsu tend to have more hand seals, as it gives you more time to prepare the necessary chakra and control to use the jutsu. With excellent chakra control, focus, and balance, you'll be able to bypass most of the hand seals and implement your jutsu on your opponents almost immediately. Thus, you'll be able to react faster in combat."

Shikaku was blinking rapidly as if he was transcribing the information directly into his brain while Mikoto leaned in closer to his words. I was also drawn into his words as he was giving us information that could let us become faster and better shinobi. I made a mental note to research more about chakra theory in the academy library whenever I was free. Dan looked surprised that the three of us were listening so intently, but he leaped from the tree and landed in front of us, "The final reason for this exercise is simple: _endurance_. I predict that it will take all of you at least several months to master this exercise. But if you practice this daily and add in your training and studies from the academy, then you'll increase your stamina, endurance, and chakra reserves all at the same time. Training hard at a young age is crucial because it is when your chakra reserves grow the fastest. As you grow older, your chakra reserves will eventually stop growing and start declining. By doing this difficult exercise, you'll be pushing yourself to the limits constantly and become stronger. Even so, it is _important_ that you get enough rest and not injure yourself while doing this. Work hard, but also work smart."

"Now," Dan grinned as he plucked three leaves out of the tree, "Any questions before we get started?"

His question was met with silence, so the shinobi proceeded to give out a single leaf to each one of us, "I think I talked enough, it's time for you try it on your own."

I shrugged and walked over to the nearest tree. Carefully placing the leaf on my forehead, I focused chakra onto my feet and slowly took a step onto the tree. I tried to "maintain a balance" like Dan said and attempted to empty my mind. I focused on taking one step at a time and moving my feet to correlate with my intentions.

Just barely, if not a bit unevenly, I managed to stick both of my feet onto the tree. My back was about a foot off the ground as I tried again and took one more step with my left foot. When my right foot slipped, I mentally panicked and my concentration came crashing down. My left foot _stomped_ onto the tree as I attempted to regain footing and it resulted in the tree splintering spectacularly. I tumbled onto the ground with a groan and when I looked up at the tree, I saw that I had created a small hole from my failed step. From behind me, I heard chuckling as Dan approached me and helped me up, "Good try, Hiroyoshi. You did worse than your friends, but it's mainly because you have a larger reserve."

"I do?" My eyebrows furrowed at his words. If that was the case, then it made sense that I had to put in more effort for the Leaf Concentration exercise and the Transformation Jutsu compared to my friends. If I had larger reserves, it meant that I had worse chakra control, "Is it because I'm not as good with chakra control as they are?"

Dan let out a small laugh as he patted my head, "Your assumption is correct. Shinobi with larger reserves have a harder time refining their chakra control. That's not a bad thing. If you put in a bit of extra effort, you can have just as good chakra control as the others and have more chakra to use in battle to boot."

I took a glimpse at my classmates, who were both barely off the ground, but struggling. I nodded understandingly and thanked the blue-haired ninja for helping me up. Once more, I approached the tree and let out a deep breath before placing my feet onto the bark and getting back to work.

* * *

Needless to say, the three of us trained until we were exhausted. When he saw that we were all tiring, Dan told us to stop doing the Tree Climbing/Leaf Concentration exercise and made us take a break from training. We ate some nutrient bars that Dan gave us to fill our stomachs and continued our training afterward. Instead of continuing the chakra control exercise, our tutor moved us to the empty parts of the training ground and sized us up, "You've done enough of that exercise for today. Since I need to get going soon, I'll help you work on your taijutsu before I go. The three of you will fight me individually and I'll assess your abilities. There will be no refs, and you can start whenever you're ready."

Mikoto was the first one up. She blew her long hair out of her face and then got into her ready position. She moved right as after she spoke, "Go!"

The raven-haired girl was in front of Dan within a second and extended her right arm to get a quick strike in. Dan barely moved to dodge the hit and grabbed the girl's arms. Before he could pin her down, Mikoto kicked off the man's torso and managed to loosen his grip enough to jump backward. Her face broke out into a scowl as she looked at her opponent from a distance and rubbed the place where Dan had grabbed. Dan's playful demeanor had disappeared, but he still maintained a smile on his face. He crossed his arms and stared at Mikoto expectantly.

Sensing that she was outmatched, Mikoto opted a different plan of attack. She maintained a healthy distance from Dan and then proceeded to attack him using hit and run tactics, using her most common fighting form. She calculated the range of Dan's movements and managed to get several light strikes in. None of them made any significant damage, as Dan blocked all the strikes that came his way. While he blocked one of her strikes, the jonin counterattacked with a rapid kick to her stomach.

Even though Dan's kick was slower than expected, Mikoto's block was unable to stop the kick and the kick struck her abdomen with little interruption. She flew backward onto the ground and rolled several times before she came to a stop. From just one kick, the sole female of the trio looked battered, but her glare suggested otherwise. When the man caught her glare, he let out a small smirk and tipped his head. Rather than continuing her previous tactic, Mikoto charged at the jonin and attacked him with reckless abandon. After blocking several hits, Dan struck out with several, well-placed punches and made her yield.

Dan helped her up and smiled, "Good show. Now Hiroyoshi, step up please."

I walked towards the opposite end of the shinobi and went into my ready stance. My ready stance was the same stance I used when practicing taekwondo, with the knuckles of my right hand facing Dan and my left hand near my chest. My right foot was also ahead of my left foot and my legs were a shoulder-width apart. Even though I was nervous about facing a jonin, I let my body relax and focused my thoughts on my opponent, "Begin."

Unlike Mikoto, I waited to see how Dan would react. I barely had time to collect my thoughts as Dan came crashing into my defenses, letting out a flurry of swift punches and kicks. I instinctively managed to block a few strikes aimed at my torso, but most of the hits went through and I soon found myself worn out and bruised from his attacks. However, instead of pressing forward and exploiting the situation, the blue-haired jonin took several steps back and motioned for me to attack.

I looked at him wearily as I massaged my chest. I was confused about why he changed his tactics while facing me. He wasn't _this_ brutal and overwhelming against Mikoto and even if I was better than Mikoto, he was fighting me as if I was an actual enemy shinobi.

I searched for any signs of contempt or anger in his eyes but found nothing of the sorts. Surprisingly, his wide smile reached his eyes, as if he was encouraging me ever so subtly.

As I slowly reassumed my ready stance and assessed the situation once again. Once again, Dan immediately attacked once I assumed my ready stance and knocked me onto the floor without restraint. After the jonin pinned me to the ground, he stepped back once again.

This time, I didn't get up right away. While I was laying on the ground, my mind ran through various possibilities for the sudden change in Dan's tactics and compared his tactic against me to his tactic against Mikoto. When he faced Mikoto, Dan wasn't overtly aggressive, nor was his overwhelming. Instead, he only attacked after Mikoto attacked him and even then, his attacks were fairly light and teasing. It was as if he was goading her to attack him aggressively.

When the jonin faced me, he was completely the opposite. He immediately launched into an offensive before I could even think and overpowered me instantly. When I got back up in order to analyze what happened and to form a plan, he defeated me just as fast. It wasn't because he hated me, it had to be something else.

At that moment, a phrase from the Naruto series rang through my mind, _Look underneath the underneath._

I pushed myself up off the ground slowly as I rapidly took my fighting stance and awaited his strike. I should've noticed it earlier! He was aware of our habits and tendencies and was probably changing his tactics to dismantle us. Most likely, he was observing how we would respond when our tactics were countered. That was why Dan baited Mikoto into attacking him; while Mikoto was good at taijutsu, she rarely lost and as a result, got impatient when she was unable to finish her fights quickly. Dan goaded her into attacking him recklessly and then took her down without effort.

Even though my body was aching from Dan's attacks, I rushed forward and prepared my limbs to block any incoming strikes. During fights, I would usually allow my opponents to attack first and endure their attacks in order to discover a pattern and plan a counterattack. Dan most likely knew of this and attacked me before I could plan or follow his attack pattern. If I attacked him right away, there was a chance that I could _make _my own opening and land a strike. Even with the difference between our skill levels, I still had to try.

Or at least, that's what I planned. Although I did manage to hit him several times with my sudden assault, he parried all my attacks before hitting my shoulder and knocking me into the ground with a roundhouse kick.

I gave Dan a tired smile as he pulled me off the ground. He gave me a subtle wink and slapped me on the shoulder, "Good work, Hiroyoshi! Now it's your turn, Shikaku!"

Unlike me or Mikoto, Shikaku understood the objective of the exercise almost immediately. He attacked Dan similar to what Mikoto did, going completely against his usual "wait and see" approach. The Nara heir actually managed to graze the jonin's flak vest. Similar to what he did to me, Dan dominated Shikaku's defenses and then used strength and speed to defeat him.

After the spars finished, the three of us sat on the ground tiredly and looked up at our sensei. The man grinned widely as if he had no part in our current beaten forms, "Sorry for sparring against you seriously, but I needed to verify if what Kimura told me was true. It seems like he was fairly on the mark for all of you. Mikoto, you're excellent at taijutsu for a student your age and have good form. But since you rarely lose spars at the academy, you're very brash and conceited when you fight. And when you start to lose, you lash out aggressively with no tact."

Mikoto turned red and scratched her cheeks sheepishly, but Dan continued, "_However_, your taijutsu is fairly advanced and once you learn more of your clan's taijutsu styles, you should be a formidable fighter. When we train together, I will help you maintain a level-head during fights and teach you when to be aggressive."

"Hiroyoshi. You also have a very good grasp of taijutsu and your speed is impressive. But your weakness is the exact opposite of Mikoto's weakness. While you have the advantage in strength and speed in fights against students your age, you're far too passive and endure too many attacks in order to find openings. You need to be _more_ aggressive. I know that you're usually aggressive against people you know you can beat, but on a chaotic battlefield, it will be hard to assess your opponent in depth. You must have a balanced approach and learn to take the initiative. Other than that, excellent work for figuring out the objective of the spar."

I nodded understandingly and thanked the man, who then turned to Shikaku, "Shikaku, you're the most well-rounded fighter of the group. While you are not overpowering like Mikoto or fast like Hiroyoshi, you're smart and you plan your course of attack as you attack. You also noticed the objective of the spars right away and went against your usual fighting style to catch me by surprise. Your body needs more conditioning, as opponents who are stronger than you will eventually just overpower you, but you have the right mentality and basics down."

"Well, that will conclude today's training! I'll tell Kimura when the next training is, and he'll pass it along to you. Practice the chakra control exercise and heed my advice on your taijutsu forms. I'll come up with a training regimen for each of you by the next time we meet!" Dan lifted two fingers up close to his chest and vanished in a blur.

Shikaku looked around slowly, his mind and body worn out from the amount of training and information they had received, "So... I guess we go home now then?"

As I was about to answer, a figure materialized in front of the three of us on the same exact spot that Dan was standing just a few seconds ago. Despite being tired and sore from the training, I assumed ready position just in case if the figure was hostile. However, the figure, a boy that was several years older than us, formally bowed to Mikoto and stood a respectful distance from the Uchiha heiress. "Mikoto-sama, I am here to take you back to the Uchiha district."

"Fugaku-san," Mikoto let out an exasperated sigh, "I'm assuming that father wants me back home immediately?"

By now, I was used to seeing characters from the original series in my life. But I glanced at Mikoto and looked back at Fugaku once again.

Uchiha Fugaku, husband of one Uchiha Mikoto and head of the Uchiha clan in the main series, was standing in front of me in the flesh. He wore a black shirt and dark brown pants, complete with the chunin flak vest. His facial expressions were rigid and blank, but for a moment, I saw a flash of irritation in his eyes when he inspected me and Shikaku. "Yes. I was also ordered by Uchiha-sama to also bring your two... friends back home."

"You mean Hiro-chan and Shika-chan? What does father want to do with them?" Mikoto demanded.

"... I was not told the reason, Mikoto-sama. I was only told to escort you to your home and do whatever it is necessary to bring your friends back with us." Fugaku answered as bowed his head towards the heiress.

Before Mikoto started yelling at the chunin, I stepped in between them, "It's fine, Mikoto. We'll go with you. Right, Shikaku?"

I gave the Nara a frosty smile and he answered with a hesitant nod, "Troublesome..."

Fugaku wordlessly shot me a look of thanks before moving behind us, "Mikoto-sama, if you can lead them to the compound. I will escort you from behind to ensure that you are safe."

Mikoto pressed her lips together but took the lead and began our trek to her home.

* * *

"Thank you for accepting my invitation to visit, Hiroyoshi, Shikaku." Uchiha Mikio maintained as he sat across from the three of us in the compact room.

I held in a snort while I was sitting on my knees. The man had the nerve to say it was an "invitation" when he had sent a _chunin_ to ensure that we would come to the Uchiha district. Even though I was interested in what the Uchiha head had to say, it still didn't change the fact that I was dragged to him at gunpoint/kunai-point.

It was also during the trip to the Uchiha district that I learned that Fugaku was Mikio's personal assistant and was under his direct tutelage due to his natural talents.

Still, I had an image to maintain and he _was_ Mikoto's father regardless of his behavior. I did a dogeza towards the man and rose after several seconds. "Thank you for the invitation, Uchiha-sama."

The room we were in was Mikio's personal study. The study was spartan and only contained a desk, a few mats, and several books and writing utilities. Only Shikaku, Mikio, and I were in the room, as Mikio only wanted to talk to me and Shikaku. Mikoto was in the living room with her mother while Fugaku stood guard outside.

"You must be wondering why I asked Fugaku to bring you back to my home," Mikio stated nonchalantly, "Do not worry, you two are not in any trouble. In fact, I invited you here to _thank_ the two of you."

I sat silently and waited for him to continue. The Uchiha head firmly maintained eye contact with myself and Shikaku before continuing, "My daughter did not have many friends growing up. I am partially to blame, but her status as the clan heiress _separated_ her from the younger members of the clan. While she was not an outcast, Mikoto was treated differently and isolated while she was growing up. She was a bright and happy child when she was younger, but she began to adopt her mask as the Uchiha heiress due to the pressure."

"I'll admit, Hiroyoshi, that when I first met you, I was both suspicious and wary. You seemed far too... composed and mature for your age and when you approached my daughter, I suspected that you were an infiltrator attempting to kidnap her." His eyes bore into me, but they were much friendlier than the first time that I met him. "Yet, you were the first one to befriend my daughter. The day she befriended you and Shikaku was the first time in her life that she wanted to remain outside the Uchiha district to be together with her friends. I hadn't seen her smile that brightly in a long time."

He showed a small smirk as he recalled the memory, "It also gave her an excuse to skip the council meetings and heiress training. Even now, she hates listening about politics and customs and despises the fact that she will, one day, become the head."

"Is she allowed to become the clan head?" I blurted out, as my curiosity took over, as Mikoto was most definitely _not _the clan head in the main series.

"Why yes, she can. And she _will_ become the clan head. She is gifted and with a bit of training, she will become a fine leader for our clan."

I blinked in surprise but said nothing as I contemplated what Mikio had just said. In the main series, Fugaku was the head of the Uchiha clan instead of Mikoto. Yet Mikio was adamant on Mikoto becoming the clan head. Something must have happened to change this, and I didn't like any of the scenarios that I imagined off the top of my head.

"I was even more surprised when you managed to convince Kato-san into training the three of you," The Uchiha head stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Kato-san is a highly capable jonin and I heard that he agreed to overwatch your training due to your pleas. Mikoto told me about your training earlier this morning and while she did miss her heiress training _again_, I am satisfied that she is spending her time wisely training with the two of you and Kato-san."

"For that, I am grateful. Not only does she seem happier than before, but she is also training and studying harder than before. The two of you have been positive influences on her and she has changed for the better. Because of this, I give the two of you my thanks and some gifts."

Mikio grabbed a book off his desk and handed it to Shikaku, "I heard from my daughter that you enjoyed reading and studying history and military matters. Hence, I thought this book was appropriate for you."

The book's title was "The First Shinobi War: Battles and Tactics." Shikaku accepted the gifts with both of his hands and began to look through the beginning of the book immediately. "Uchiha-sama, has this book been published recently? This is my first time seeing a book with this title, and I have read many books on battle tactics and strategies.."

The Uchiha head shook his head, "No, it is a personal book that I and a select few have written. The book contains not only tactics used by Konoha shinobi but tactics used by foreign shinobi as well. I am entrusting you with the book. Your father, one of the most brilliant minds I have ever met, was a good friend of mine and he spoke highly of your abilities before his..."

"I understand, Uchiha-sama," Shikaku replied somberly. At the mention of his father, Shikaku turned pale and gripped the book tightly, "I will treasure this book."

"As for you, Hiroyoshi. I understand that you are an orphan and that you do not have any living relatives. For that reason, I and the council have agreed that you will be placed under our sponsorship program once you become a genin."

I tilted my head with a puzzled expression on my face. Mikio noticed this and explained further, "The Uchiha clan, like most major clans of Konoha, has a sponsorship program for talented shinobi that are orphans or clanless. If you choose to accept the sponsorship, the Uchiha clan will assist you throughout your career, aid you financially when needed, and grant your certain privileges that only members of our clan have. You will not be considered an official Uchiha, but you will be treated as an _honored associate_ of the Uchiha clan. I have heard only high praises about you from my daughter, and your academy instructors have all said the same. Even I have great expectations for you and I believe that you can benefit greatly from our sponsorship. Of course, if you choose to accept, you will be allowed to live in our apartment for those being sponsored for free until you have a stable source of income."

I almost responded with an affirmative immediately, but a scene from the Naruto anime went through my mind: the Uchiha massacre. I stiffened at the thought of every Uchiha being slaughtered, including Mikoto, and the prospect of myself being slaughtered also. Were honorary Uchiha members executed in the original series? I knew that even Uchiha members without the Sharingan were mowed down indiscriminately, but what if everyone, regardless of their clan affiliation, within the Uchiha district was murdered? Would I also be at risk if I accepted the sponsorship?

Sensing my inner turmoil, Mikio cleared his throat, "I know this is a lot to take in, Hiroyoshi, and I am willing to give you time to think about this offer. For now, I will send you back to your homes, as it is getting fairly late."

"Uchiha-sama, I would like to accept your offer," I called out quickly before the Uchiha head stood up. I knew there were risks involved, but I wasn't going to shy away from this golden opportunity. And even if the Uchiha clan was massacred in the original series, there were no guarantees that the massacre would happen this time around. I was already changing things slowly just by _existing_ and since I knew the future fate of the Uchiha clan, I was going to _ensure_ that Mikoto and the Uchihas weren't all murdered this time around.

Mikio maintained a straight face when I came to my decision and simply nodded, "Very well. I look forward to the day you become a genin. Until then, I will be waiting."

The Uchiha head ordered Fugaku to escort me back to the orphanage while he sent another chunin to take Shikaku to the Nara compound. As we were leaving, Mikito came up to us and gave the two of us a hug. "I heard from father that you'll come live in the Uchiha district once you become a genin."

I let out a small laugh and returned the hug, "I accepted the sponsorship. Thank you for giving me the opportunity, Mikoto."

"It wasn't me, it was father!" Mikoto squeaked out.

"No, not just the sponsorship. Thank you for giving me the chance to be your friend. You're one of my closest friends, you know." I jabbed her shoulder lightly.

She smiled brightly at my comment and hugged me once again, "And you're one of my closest friends too."

Shikaku rolled his eyes and mumbled, "If you two are done flirting, Hiro and I can head out. I think you're keeping our escorts waiting."

Mikoto furiously turned scarlet while I stumbled backward. I felt a bit nauseous at Shikaku's comment, but Fugaku coughed to grab my attention and pried me away from my thoughts, "Hiroyoshi-san, we will leave whenever you are ready."

I left as fast as I could with Fugaku. During my trip back to the orphanage, I thought about what had transpired towards the end. Mikoto was _eight years old_. I was still around _twenty years old _mentally. Even if I did look like an eight-year old, the mental gap was far too wide. If Shikaku knew I truly was, then he would've been horrified at his own joke.

Maybe if Mikoto was older, then it would be appropriate. But for now, I decided to not get _too_ close with Mikoto for the time being.

When I arrived, I thanked Fugaku with a bow. Fugaku remained silent and his eyes flashed towards me as he left.

I chose not to dwell on this too much and went to sleep without a fuss.

* * *

Three months was how long it took for us to master the Leaf and Tree Concentration Exercise (a name that Dan came up with during one of our trainings).

Or in my case, three months and two weeks.

After we mastered the exercise, Dan immediately made us start on the Water Walking exercise. Compared to spending months on the Leaf and Tree Concentration Exercise, the Water Walking exercise was a breeze. The two exercises were different, yet the core concept was the same for both exercises: balance. Additionally, our group had improved our chakra control and expanded our chakra reserves considerably during the three months. The results showed when we began to practice water walking. Instead of spending months to master the exercise, we finished the exercise within a week. Furthermore, Dan tutored us all individually to fix our weaknesses and sharpen our strengths during our months of training together. Our abilities in taijutsu improved in leaps and bounds as we trained under the tutelage of the blue-haired shinobi. It also helped that we followed the training regimen that Dan had made for us, which increased our strength and endurance faster than before. When he became more confident about our physical abilities, he started training us to use kunai and other ninja weapons.

Finally, after months of waiting, our jonin instructor allowed us to begin our training on D-ranked and C-ranked jutsu. Dan tested our chakra's natural affinities using chakra papers in order to see which types of jutsu we would all individually learn. My natural affinity was lightning, which made my thoughts drift to the _Chidori_, Kakashi's signature jutsu. Mikoto's natural affinity was fire, to no one's surprise, while Shikaku's affinity was earth.

Unfortunately for myself, Dan was not a proficient user of _Raiton_. He did show me a few basic _Raiton _jutsu but warned me that I would need to find another teacher if I wanted to learn more advanced _Raiton_ jutsu. Meanwhile, Mikoto and Shikaku practiced just as hard to master their own natural affinities. We fought against each other constantly to test our skills and improve our abilities. We didn't make our private training with Dan public, but people began to notice that our skills were growing faster and faster.

Some people even called us prodigies and I heard rumors that the academy instructors were going to bump us up a year so we could graduate early.

Despite the rumors surrounding me and my friends, I went about my life as normal. Time flew by fast and before I knew it, I was finishing up my second year at the academy. After finishing up a normal day at the academy, I went to training ground fourteen with the others like usual. The training ground had become a second home for me as I spent a good majority of my day within its boundaries. When we arrived, Dan was already waiting for us with his usual, gentle smile.

I had tried to research more about Dan's, or "sensei's," background, but his backing information was highly confidential. As a lowly academy student, I didn't have any clearance to see any official documents about him, but I did know that he was an orphan and former sensei of several genin teams. He was also single, which meant that he had not yet met Tsunade yet. The jonin was a friendly and patient teacher, and my group respected him deeply.

"I have some big news to tell you guys," The man's smile faltered slightly as he looked at us, "I'm being sent out for an important mission tomorrow and I'll be gone for at least a month or so."

I wasn't surprised or disappointed, as I knew he was a formidable jonin and he was bound to be sent on a long-term mission sooner or later. I was more surprised by the fact that Dan was in the village for approximately six months, with the exception of a few odd missions he carried out nearby the village. Even so, a frown appeared on my face as I realized my first "official" jonin instructor was going to be in danger. "Is the mission difficult, sensei?"

Dan shook his head and pumped out his chest, "It won't be difficult for me, Hiro. I'll complete the mission and come back without any problems. I promise _all_ of you that."

Mikoto let out a cry of fear and hugged the man tightly. I walked to the side to avoid suffocating Mikoto and hugged him, while Shikaku joined in awkwardly several seconds later. The blue-haired jonin ruffled all our hairs and wrapped his arms around us, "You worry too much, kids. I definitely will come back, after all, I still have much to teach you."

"Instead of crying and getting all emotional, let's get in some training before I have to leave," Dan said with a tight lip smile. "I think Mikoto wanted a rematch with Hiro?"

"I'm going to win this time, Hiro-chan!" Mikoto announced as she walked to an empty spot in the open area of the training ground. I walked to the opposite end and flashed her a smirk. My relationship with Mikoto remained fairly constant throughout the last several months. She did seem to act closer to me than she did to Shikaku, but I made sure that she never attempted to cross the line when it came to our relationship. Still, we were very close friends and she was my rival to a certain degree.

The jonin raised his hand and then brought it down between the two of us, "Begin!"

Instantly, I threw several kunai at Mikoto's position, but she deflected all of them before counterattacking with a dozen shurikens. I switched out using the Substitution Jutsu and used the momentary distraction to attack her from behind. But instead of being caught off guard, Mikoto raised her left arm and blocked my kick with ease.

"Are we _really_ going to fight seriously." I deadpanned as I caught a glimpse of her eyes. Instead of seeing familiar onyx eyes, her eyes were bright red with two tomes in each eye.

She gave me a vicious grin as she went on the offensive with a kunai, "It's sensei's last day before his mission, so I'm going to go all out!"

Shikaku and I were unaware that Mikoto had awakened her Sharingan at an early age until recently. Since she was the clan heiress, she went through tough training to awaken her Sharingan, as it was a requirement for the clan head to have. She had hidden this fact due to her status, but she used it accidentally during an intense spar with Dan. As a result, she occasionally used the Sharingan during our training sessions.

The Sharingan was a pain to face as it allowed the user to react faster to an opponent's movements and copy their actions. I had faced Mikoto several times while she had it activated, and had my ass handed to me each time. But I had no intentions of giving up or losing today.

I discreetly pulled out a small smoke grenade from my utility belt. Since I was an orphan with a lack of spending money, Dan took it upon himself to buy me the necessary shinobi gear for a beginner. He bought me the very basics: a kunai holster, a utility belt, several well-crafted kunai, a few shurikens, and a number of useful trinkets that would help in fights. The smoke grenade was one of the useful trinkets that Dan had bought me and I knew just what to do with it.

When she came at me for another attack, I tossed the smoke grenade towards her face and ran forward. As expected, Mikoto thought the grenade was a weapon and knocked it into the ground with her kunai. Once the smoke exploded outwards, I dove into the smoke and pretended to hide.

I was fully aware that the Sharingan could track my chakra even in the smoke, but I wanted Mikoto to think otherwise. I laid unmoving as I felt a presence above me.

One important thing about the Sharingan was that it couldn't see the physical person itself. It could only see the _chakra_ of the person. Thus, Mikoto was caught off guard when I met her attack with my own, "_Raiton: __Raikou Kousen no Jutsu (Lightning Beam Jutsu)!_"

The C-rank Lightning release jutsu traveled out of my right palm and shot towards the Uchiha, who managed to spot the sudden surge of chakra in time to dodge most of the attack. However, the jutsu still managed to strike her due to several smaller lightning bolts arcing from the main beam itself. Regardless, the raven-haired girl remained standing even with her legs shaking from the shock. I saw her glare daggers at me once the smoke cleared up and she proceeded to counterattack with her own jutsu, "_Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu (Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu)!"_

A volley of fireballs shot out of her mouth and flew towards me, forcing me to jump back and dodge them. I weaved through the fireballs using my speed and then finished the hand seals for a jutsu I was learning to limit the usage of her eyes. "_Raiton: __Heki no Jutsu (Lightning Burst Jutsu)!"_

The electricity leaking out of my right arm crackled loudly and made my arm turn extremely bright. Mikoto looked away from the intensity of the light and the chakra on my arm and I seized the opportunity to shock her with lightning.

When my arm reached her stomach, Mikoto disappeared into a cloud of smoke and my fist connected a log instead.

I turned quickly to block any incoming attacks, but the Uchiha heiress already had a kunai to my throat, "I think it's my win."

Admitting defeat, I raised my arms in surrender. She giggled happily and poked my neck, "You have to be more aware than that, Hiro-chan. You may be faster than you, but I'm still fast enough to switch out before you land your attack!"

I shook my hand, but a grin appeared on my face. I was getting a lot closer to beating her than before, so my progress left me fairly satisfied, "Next time, I'll beat you Mikoto."

"I'm looking forward to it," Mikoto laughed.

* * *

After the sun went down and the four of us parted ways, I waited for several minutes and returned to the training ground.

When I was inside, I looked around and tried to sense if anyone was nearby. While I wasn't a sensory type, I had learned the basics of sensing chakra using the _Tankyori Kankaku no Jutsu (Proximity Detection_ Jutsu). It was a nifty little jutsu that allowed me to sense for any beings with chakra within a fifty feet radius. The jutsu picked up nothing when I used it, but I double-checked my surroundings regardless as the jutsu was a very basic detection jutsu. A seasoned shinobi could make their chakra presence minuscule, making it unable for me to detect them.

Subsequently, I was fairly confident that I was alone and proceeded to work on a jutsu I had been practicing and working on in secret for the last half a year. Initially, I met little success while trying to learn this jutsu, but I was able to make rapid progress after my chakra control became more refined. I had been practicing the final stages of the jutsu for some time now, and I was determined to finally finish the jutsu today.

I focused my chakra into the palm of my hands and imagined that the chakra was rotating in multiple directions at once. Once I felt the rotation, I began to increase the power and volume of chakra going into the hand. The chakra began to swirl and slowly become visible as the rotation became faster and faster.

Finally, I visualized the balloon that I had used for the final step of the training. I imagined that this massive rotation of chakra was contained into the imaginary balloon sized space in my palm. Slowly, the chakra encased itself into a small sphere that was approximately the size of a baseball. Despite the orb's outer beauty, I knew that it would absolutely obliterate whatever it touched. I grinned ear to ear as I inspected the jutsu.

I excitedly rushed forward towards the nearest tree and pushed out my hand, "_Rasengan__!_"

The tree _exploded_ with force and when the dust cleared, the tree creaked and fell over from the blast.

I erupted into cheers and looked at the tree in disbelief as I was still comprehending the fact that I had recreated Naruto's trademark jutsu. I was still celebrating my accomplishment when I felt a presence emerge from the shadows. My blood ran cold as I realized that if he had managed to avoid my searches earlier, then he was a fairly capable shinobi.

Reflexively, I pulled out my kunai and growled to the foreign presence, "Who's there?"

A shinobi dressed in ANBU attire wordlessly emerged from the shadow and gave me a graceful bow. The shinobi's mask, a mask that looked like a wolf, covered the ninja's face, "Academy Student Hiroyoshi Osato. That display of power was... quite impressive."

I stiffened as I realized that he saw me use the Rasengan. When the ninja spoke again, he sounded _amused_ at my reaction, "Do not worry, Hiroyoshi Osato. You are not in any danger. I am merely here to escort you to our current head of ANBU, Danzo-sama."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's the chapter! Our MC is going to meet Danzo for the first time. Be warned though, he is not like the Danzo you see in the original series.
> 
> And thank you for all the positive feedback! Reviews are what keeps me going, so please drop a comment down below if you enjoyed the story so far!
> 
> To respond to some of the comments:
> 
> 1) Tobirama is not alive and is not the current Hokage. It was mentioned in the first chapter that the monument currently has three faces on it. The current Hokage is Hiruzen. Tobirama died in the First Shinobi War.
> 
> 2) The MC, if you haven't noticed already, is a bit meticulous in planning and thinking too much ahead. Which is why he's thinking of learning the Hirashin even though the Hiarshin is incredibly difficult to learn. He will soon realize this over time. The readers can catch glimpses of this habit in this chapter when he is facing Dan.
> 
> 3) No, I will not do the "Uchiha clan is noble" type trope that might be found in other fics. The Uchiha clan is a highly revered and prestigious clan, that is all. There may be some Uchiha clan members that spout "blood purity" and the such, but this view is in the extreme minority. Uchiha clan members can marry members outside their clan and cooperate with outsiders when necessary, at least for this fic.
> 
> 4) I did change the age of Mikoto slightly to match up with the time frame. This is mainly for the plot sakes. Somethings will not be exactly the same as the Naruto wiki or the main series. And as stated in the beginning, the timeline outlined in the first chapter is not permanent. Things will change as the MC interact with the world. For all you know, the Third Shinobi War might not even happen or happen the same way as the main series.
> 
> 5) Why did the OC manage to pull off the Rasengan at such an early age? There are several reasons. The first is that the OC knows the Rasengan exists. In the main series, Naruto doesn't know about the jutsu until the end of the chunin exam. The OC knows about the Rasengan and knows the steps to complete the jutsu (see the three-step process for learning the Rasengan). He also isn't making a jutsu from scratch. While it's never been tried before in this AU, he knows it can work and knows how to create the jutsu. Thus, because he improved his chakra control considerably early on, has much better chakra control than Naruto, and has a sufficient amount of chakra, he can replicate the Rasengan. Do bear in mind, he does not learn this overnight. As the text says, it took him just under half a year to finish up the jutsu. The OC isn't just smart, he's a hard worker.
> 
> And with that, I close out this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it!


	5. Cornered

_"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."_

_-Mahatma Gandhi_

* * *

_AN: Please re-read the end of Chapter 4. I have edited the ending because I confused the published final draft with one of my rough drafts. Thank you for understanding!_

* * *

I froze upon hearing Danzo's name. My neutral composure instantly turned into one of panic as I glanced around to see if there were any ways to escape the encounter.

There was nowhere for me to run. Quietly, I ran through several scenarios in my head. I had no idea what Danzo wanted, but if he interrogated me, then it would be _extremely _problematic. Briefly, I contemplated fighting the Anbu member in front of me and fleeing. However, even if I fought the Anbu member and won, I would still need to deal with Danzo and the Hidden Leaf's leadership. Due to Danzo's current position in the village, I would be tried for treason and attempted murder if I attacked a Leaf shinobi. By attacking _first_, I would raise suspicions about my truly loyalty and brand me as a criminal. If I attempted to flee, then it would raise even more problems. I was merely a kid and venturing out of Konoha's borders as a nine-year old, especially in the world of shinobi, was suicidal. And judging by the words and looks of the shinobi in front of me, I wasn't going to have the opportunity to run away or escape the village.

I took a deep breath and wordlessly nodded to the individual.

"Good, then let's be on our way, shall we?" The fox masked shinobi gripped my shoulder firmly and led me out of the training ground.

The dark streets of Konoha were empty and I constantly looked at my captor in case he dragged me into the shadows. I silently wondered why Danzo wanted to speak to me. Did he suspect something odd about my activities? Did he want to recruit me into Anbu or Root? Did he want information on the Rasengan? If the current Danzo was anything like the Danzo in the main series, then he was most likely going to interrogate me and then attempt to use me as a pawn.

I halted at the thought of interrogation, earning a glare from my escort. I scratched my head apologetically and then continued my trek to certain doom. I had no doubts that Danzo had a Yamanaka under his command, either from the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force or from Root. If a Yamanaka did a mind sweep on me, then I was in a very dangerous position, as my knowledge of the future would be a goldmine for Danzo. And if the head of Anbu was as ruthless as he was in the original series, then I would be executed after all the useful information was extracted from me.

However, there was a faint glimmer of hope in my mind when I looked at the person escorting me. Danzo's Root agents were trained to have their emotions erased as a part of their training, yet the shinobi behind me clearly leaked emotions as they walked and talked. Additionally, he had introduced Danzo as the leader of Anbu, not Root. There was a small possibility that the Danzo of this era was not completely paranoid or delusional and was acting under supervision due to his Anbu position. If that was the case, then I had a _slightly_ better chance of walking out of this encounter with my life.

I made a silent prayer to the god that brought me to this place, hoping that they would hear my pleas and grant me some good fortunes for the next several hours. It was the only thing I could do at this moment.

Instead of being brought to the secret underground base of Root, we came to stop in front of a rather inconspicuous building near the outer parts of Konoha. The building was unmarked save for a small, Konoha symbol at the entrance. I looked back at my escort for reassurance, but his response was a hard push towards the entrance.

The shinobi knocked on the door and a voice came from the other side, "Yes?"

"The fox flies alone at midnight." My escort replied.

"Your business?"

"The hunt has caught a dragonfly."

Slowly, the door creaked open, leaving enough space for myself and the fox masked shinobi to squeeze through. Once we were inside, I was instantly restrained by two new shinobi that sprung out from the shadows. The fox masked shinobi released his grip my shoulder and watched from behind, "Escort him to Danzo-sama. Make sure not to injure him, Danzo-sama wants the boy _intact_."

I was blindfolded and spun around several times. I was unable to see anything, but I was able to sense that I went through a number of rooms and passageways before I was placed into a chair. Once I was comfortably on the chair, the blindfolds were removed and my escorts left the room.

I blinked to adjust my eyes to the sudden glare of light coming from the torches on the wall. The room I was in was bare and empty, except for two chairs and a wooden table. The walls were painted dark grey and there was only a single door to serve as an exit from the room. However, what immediately caught my attention was on the individual in front of me.

He was a tall and intimidating man with hair sprouting from his head like weeds. A single cross-shaped scar adorned his chin and his two black eyes swirled with intensity. Seeing his two eyes and bare arms made me relax slightly, as it meant that he hadn't murdered a bunch of Uchihas and stole their eyes. Yet the man's eyes looked at me like I was a piece of meat in a butchery. I gulped and shifted in my seat uncomfortably as he spoke, "So, _Hiroyoshi Osato_."

"Hello, Danzo-sama," I mumbled as his stare intensified.

He chuckled at my distressed state and crossed his arms comfortably, "You look extremely stressed boy, relax. I am not here to interrogate or torture you. I merely have some _questions._"

"Now Hiroyoshi, what do you know about Anbu?"

I blinked at the seemingly random question and replied as innocently as I could, "It's the elite division within our shinobi forces, right? Only the most skilled shinobi are allowed to join Anbu and they carry out the hardest and most important missions."

"You are mostly correct. Anbu _is _a group of elite and talented shinobi within our ranks that are tasked with carrying out difficult missions. _However_, all shinobi that are accepted into Anbu have a specific requirement other than talent and skill: _discipline_. Those in Anbu will see things they never wish to see and carry out missions that they may personally be against, but all Anbu members have the _discipline_ needed to put their feelings aside and serve the Leaf faithfully. Which is why we make sure to extensively _interview_ and question those that are potential Anbu material."

"Recently, Anbu has decided to make an... academy division. The academy division will not carry out the difficult and dangerous tasks that Anbu is required to complete. Instead, the special academy division, called "Root," will be training with Anbu members and carry out some of the "easier" tasks after some time. I have been tasked with scouting out several worthy candidates to join Root, which is why you are here today. Your recommendation came from one of my former subordinates, a jonin that you should know very well."

"Dan sensei?" I said as my eyes widened at the implication.

Danzo _almost_ rolled his eyes as he sighed, "Yes. If you didn't know, Kato was once a formidable Anbu captain before he was released from duty. Once he heard about the creation of Root, he recommended you immediately. And from what my... _observer_ also saw, I am inclined to agree."

I instinctively looked around for any hidden Anbu members readying to jump me from the shadows, but the room was empty. Danzo noticed my sudden movements and gave me an eerie smile, "You are much more on guard than any children that I have seen. Is it perhaps because of you of your secret? To hide the fact that you have created a powerful jutsu you have created by yourself?"

The man's smile dropped the temperature in the room by several degrees, but I managed to restrain myself from shivering in his presence. I maintained my silence as he continued, "I have been warned that you are more mature and skilled compared to the other _children_, but to think that you have managed to _create_ a jutsu at the mere age of nine and act like That is certainly an... impressive feat."

"But no matter how intelligent or skilled you may believe you are, your very limits will be tested should you prove yourself worthy of becoming a part of Root. I will not dote on you or praise you like Kato, but you will learn far more under my teachings than under Kato. Of course, I will still allow you to enjoy your private lessons with Kato," Danzo's eyes flashed as he maintained his predatory smile, "So I will ask you once again; are you be willing to become a candidate to join Root?"

Did I think this was a stupid idea?

Possibly.

But did I want to miss out on the chance of becoming stronger and gaining valuable information about the internal and external affairs of the village?

Definitely not.

"Yes."

* * *

The training arena was sparsely lit to the point where I could barely make out the figures of the thirteen other individuals that were standing beside me. All of them were potential candidates to join the newly formed Root division and I was directly competing against to "earn" my way in. The candidates, including myself, were all wearing animal masks to hide our identities. My own mask was in the shape of a dog, a very eerily looking dog with an expressionless face. Although I couldn't directly see the faces of the candidates, I could tell that nearly all of them were my age or slightly older.

An Anbu member materialized in front of the group of candidates and crossed his arms, "I'm sure all of you are already aware of what you need to do, so let's get on with it. Cat and Mouse, step up to the right side. Eagle and turtle, get in the arena too."

The way to pass the _tryout _was "simple." Each of the candidates was paired up with another candidate and fought another pair. The winning pair would be accepted into Root, with the losing pair being subjected to a mindwipe that would erase their most recent memories. They didn't tell us _how_, just that they would. Even so, I wasn't going to take any chances, especially if they decided to take a peek of my other memories before proceeding with the memory wipe. I suspected a mindwipe or something akin to it would happen even before accepting but chose to accept the invitation anyway since I would have most likely been mind-wiped if I refused Danzo's offer.

I was backed into a corner, but I had a chance to escape with my life and knowledge intact. I had to win.

The candidates that were not participating in the fight were escorted to the edges of the arena. From where I was standing, I couldn't' see anything happen within the arena itself, and I suspected it was intentional to intimidate us. The only noise I could make out were the sounds of jutsu and cries throughout the entire battle. In my mind, I was already thinking of how to utilize the dimness to my advantage.

None of the candidates was aware of the progress of the fight until the Anbu member/referee returned from the arena and appeared in front of us nonchalantly once again, "Round two. Dog and rabbit, step forward and go to your left side. Deer and tiger, head onto the opposite side."

I gripped my hands into balls of fists and moved to my designated side of the arena. Shortly after I arrived, a kid wearing a rabbit mask landed next to me.

"Give me a rundown of your abilities," Rabbit demanded with a deep voice.

I looked at him with my head tilted, but answered him quickly, "The Academy Three, good taijutsu, a few _Raiton_ jutsu, and a Sensory jutsu."

Rabbit crossed his arms and nodded, "Alright, you can hold on your own then. Just don't get in my way."

"Wait a minute!"

"Begin!" A voice boomed from above.

Immediately, Rabbit disappeared into the darkness and I was left alone. Gritting my teeth, I move cautiously forward and used my Proximity Detection Jutsu, "_Tankyori Kankaku no Jutsu_"

I didn't detect anything within my immediate vicinity, but I was on guard for any sudden attacks from the shadow. I strayed to the edges of the arena (or what I thought were the edges) and constantly used my Proximity Detection Jutsu, trying to sense the location of my partner and my opponents. I heard a few grunts and shouts in the arena and cursed myself for losing track of my teammate so quickly at the initial parts of the fight.

Suddenly, my senses screamed for me to prepare myself and I instinctively brought out my kunai to ready myself. The figure that came out of the shadows wore a mask that looked strikingly like a tiger, so I immediately went on the offensive. I threw several kunai at my opponent and jumped backward to prepare a jutsu, "_Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu_ (Lightning Bolt)."

An arc of lighting emitted from my right hand and I threw it at my opponent just as they parried my kunai. My opponent dodged and countered with an attack of their own. They didn't say anything out loud, but within a second, a small ball of chakra was thrown directly at me. I dove out of the way, but the ball of chakra exploded and cut me on my legs and arms. The cuts weren't too deep, but they stung like hell.

_Wind chakra_. I thought as I pushed myself up and moved towards my opponent. While my arms and legs ached, I knew that I couldn't drag out a ninjutsu battle against my opponent. Wind triumphed over lightning and if I attempted to use any of my _Raiton_ jutsu against them, then they would be able to counter it with greater efficiency than I could counter their own jutsu. Besides, I sensed that the person in front of me had a larger reserve than I did, so dragging out a ninjutsu battle would be pointless. And if I was on the verge of losing, I had a final trump card that I could use against them.

A kunai jumped from my hand as I dashed forward, my adversary effortlessly deflecting it once again. As I moved in to engage her, I pulled out another kunai and went immediately for their throat. They parried the kunai and pushed me back with aggressive strikes. Their speed was more than a match for my own speed and I found myself barely being able to plan and parry at the same time.

My fellow contestant aimed a hit towards my stomach and I managed to bring her to a standstill with my own kunai. I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my last kunai and swung towards their left hand, which I assumed was their dominant hand. Surprisingly, the person grabbed my arm at the last second and denied my attack. Before I could kick them away, they struck first and kicked my chest _hard_.

I stumbled onto the group as a heap and wheezed as I felt my chest ache from the kick. My arms and legs felt heavier than before, most likely due to the various cuts I suffered from my opponent's wind attack. Before my opponent could move to finish me off, I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and I whisked away from my opponent.

As I was being moved away, I grabbed the unseen person's arm and tackled them onto the ground. I felt pains all over my body, but I still had the strength to continue. I placed a kunai directly to their throat, only to discover that the person that rescued me was my "partner." "It's me, you idiot! Calm down!"

I still placed my kunai directly onto Rabbit's throat, unconvinced at their identity, "If you're really Rabbit, then what did you say before you left me?"

"Alright, you can support me. Don't get in my way," Rabbit replied irritatingly.

I lowered my kunai and helped them up, "Sorry about that, I wanted to make sure you weren't a Henge."

Rabbit grumbled as "he" rubbed his throat, "It's fine but good thinking."

"Did you manage to find the other one?

"Yeah, you see the injuries I have on me? The damn bastard torched me with fire."

I finally managed to see Rabbit's body closely and noticed that he sported a number of bruises on his arms. I pulled out some first aid and applied bandages to his wounds to ease the bleeding, "Before you run off again, tell me your skillset."

I swore that my partner was rolling his eyes as he responded, "I have a few _Suiton_ jutsu up my sleeve, my taijutsu is probably my strongest suit, and I'm fairly proficient in using kunai and shurikens."

"Alright, I have a plan, but I'm going to need you for it." A number of thoughts ran through my mind, but I shook them off to focus on the fight at hand.

"Shoot."

I explained the plan to him briefly and as he listened, he looked more and more interested and finally nodded his head at the end of my explanation, "Not bad at all. Though you do know the risks behind the plan if we fail to take them down, right?"

"I know, but if it works, we can finish this battle right away."

My partner tapped his fingers on his arm and nodded, "Alright, just making sure. On your mark then."

Both of us stood still as I brought my hand together and let out a pulse of chakra. The pulse was a safety measure taught to Academy Students in case they came under attack or were about to be kidnapped. It was a fairly strong pulse that alerted nearby shinobi of the user's location, thus attracting any competent ninja's attention. I was disappointed as I felt two chakra signatures closing in on us.

"Forty feet," I whispered.

Rabbit brought his fingers together, "_Suiton: Mizurappa _(Violent Water Wave)."

A rush of water expelled from Rabbit's mouth and covered the floor around us as I used my Proximity Detection jutsu once again, "Twenty feet and closing."

"I'm ready kid," My partner replied. I cocked my head strangely at him, but he waved his hand, "Just get ready."

The moment I saw my opponents moving in, I used the jutsu I had prepared for the attack, "_Raiton: Raikou Hitofuki no Jutsu _(Lightning Blast Technique)."

It was a jutsu I managed to learn from the library. While I didn't manage to find any instructors to teach me _Raiton_, I scoured the Shinobi library (a library that was reserved for shinobi and shinobi in training). The library only contained jutsu up to the C-Rank, but I managed to learn half a dozen jutsu through practice and reading. Hopefully, this jutsu would be enough to stall them.

Electricity emitted from my palms and directed onto the ground, making sure that my hands weren't directly touching the wet floor. My jutsu touched the ground and immediately began to spread across the floor, lighting up the ground in a deadly blue light. Our opponents were already closing in on us and were far too late to stop their charge, touching the water directly before they were able to jump up into the air. They were shocked and slowed, but they were still standing.

"_Raiton: __Raikou Kousen no Jutsu_." I followed my previous jutsu with the Lightning Beam and shot it towards the sky, illuminating everyone within the arena. Once my opponents were in view, I immediately threw one of my last two kunai at one of them and shot my Lightning Beam towards them once again. The other opponent was targeted by Rabbit, who used a Suiton jutsu and prepared a shuriken to throw if his attack was ineffective.

The kunai that I threw was barely deflected by my target, who wore a Deer mask. Deer tried to deflect my kunai, but failed to do so due to the electric shock and was impaled on the arm directly. The Lightning Beam struck them soon afterward and they fell onto the ground, where they didn't get up. Tiger, Rabbit's opponent, managed to dodge the Suiton attack but was hit with the shuriken and fell with a cry.

The Anbu referee appeared from the shadows and checked the pulses of our downed opponents. He waved his hand and two additional Anbu members appeared and transported the two away. Then, he proceeded to turn to me and handed me a piece of paper, "Congratulations, Dog, you have passed the trials. Rabbit here will take you to the waiting area."

I felt Rabbit grip my shoulder, "Come on, kid. Let's move."

I had a few questions for my "kid" partner, but I followed him out of the arena and into a narrow hallway. The hallway spiraled upwards towards the top of the arena and into a large room that directly oversaw the arena from above. To my surprise, I could see the arena clearly through the window and it was as if the arena was not dark at all."

"It's a special type of glass that allows us to see through the darkness. It's useful but extremely fragile so they're pretty useless in battle."

Rabbit stepped in front of me and disappeared into a cloud of smoke. When he revealed himself, he was two heads taller than I was and wearing a standard Anbu attire, "Congratulations! You've passed. For the future, I'll be your instructor for Root."

"You're part of Anbu?"

"The fight wasn't really to determine if you entered Root or not. All the candidates, the _actual_ candidates, for Root are already deemed good enough to join Root. This battle was mainly to see what you can do and to see how you did against someone that was beyond your skill level." Rabbit shrugged, "Tiger, the opponent that you faced, is also part of Anbu. She was evaluating you directly, while I was evaluating Deer, the _real_ candidate for Root."

I let out a small sigh of relief and looked at him questioningly, "So all the candidates pass?"

"All the candidates are paired with a member of Anbu and they're only being evaluated, so yes, all the candidates pass," My "partner" rubbed his chin as he inspected me, "Just because Anbu and Danzo-sama has acknowledged your skills, doesn't mean I will allow you to slack off. I will not go easy on you and if you are unable to keep up then."

He sliced his hand across his neck and pointed at the door. I understood the meaning immediately.

"I won't let you down."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hectic few months, but I'm back to writing this story! I'll be updating weekly and in shorter bursts, but I'll update consistently to the best of my abilities.
> 
> The Second Shinobi War is just around the corner! So stay tuned...
> 
> Also, the next chapter will feature a very well known individual from the main series in her kid form (HInt: she's fiery).


	6. Tutelage

_"As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed_."

-Vincent Van Goh

* * *

_AN: I apologize for the relatively fast pacing of the story and I have read some of the comments regarding the unusual skips the story has had. Therefore, I will do my best to slow down the pacing (but still include some action) so that readers aren't caught unaware of a sudden development (such as the Rasengan). Thank you for understanding, and enjoy the story!_

* * *

The sound of metal hitting metal echoed throughout the room and only grew faster as time went on.

I blocked another kunai strike that was aimed at my arm and lashed out with my leg rapidly. My opponent dodged my kick and attempted to utilize my exposed leg to grapple me, but I jumped back at the last second to avoid his counteroffensive. As I moved backward, I threw three shurikens in mid-air and regained my footing. As expected, the man wearing the Rabbit mask dodged or parried all the thrown ninja tools and focused his attention back to me.

"Your speed is getting better, but you need to get faster. While your speed might be impressive against genin and less experienced chunin, an experienced chunin or a jonin would be able to beat you. If I was going all out, I would have been able to grab your leg."

I remained emotionless despite his harsh words, as I was used to it by now. I didn't see Rabbit too frequently, as he was sent out on missions every week and I only trained with him three times a week. Even so, I knew his style and knew that his harsh words were meant to both push me forward and taunt me. It was a way for me to learn to keep a level head against even the most belligerent shinobi and to study an enemy's faults and form of speech to identify them after a mission.

Approximately three weeks had passed since I joined Root and my time in Root had been surprisingly pleasant. I wasn't forced to have a seal on my tongue or face interrogation every day, though I did carry out menial errands for the Anbu members when needed. Whenever I was in the Root/Anbu base area, I spent most of my time improving my taijutsu and ninjutsu, learning how to dispel genjutsu, and studying tactics and laws. Although there were six other Root candidates, I never saw them as we were all trained independently until our Root training was complete. They were very strict on that rule and the few times I saw other candidates were when we were passing by each other in hallways and rooms.

Today was a more relaxed taijutsu training day, followed by a long study session in the Root library. But the definition of "relaxed" for Rabbit meant "fight to the death until you can't fight anymore." He was a slave driver, but he only drove me to the _brink_ of exhaustion every training session.

"Again, for the last time." Rabbit said as he motioned for me to attack. It had been three hours since we started our taijutsu session and I was feeling exhausted, but I decided to end it on a high note.

I closed the distance in an instant and made sure to keep my body tight as I punched forward. The punch glanced off his arm guard and I swept my right leg towards his legs. He jumped up into the air to avoid it, but I punched downwards to meet his sudden upward motion. My fist went into his stomach and Rabbit groaned. Before he could recover, I gave him a roundhouse kick to his torso and used the motion to back up and organize myself. He managed to block the kick but was out of position as I rushed forward again.

Using my elbow, I slammed into his defenses with full force and used the blunt part of my kunai to slam it into his mask. He dodged it just enough so that I only glanced the side of his mask. It wasn't enough to completely beat him but the attack did make him kneel onto one knee on the ground.

After he got back up, Rabbit put away his kunai and crossed his arms. He wasn't angry at his "defeat," since I knew he was holding back some of his speed and I barely managed to push him back. If anything he looked a bit impressed, "There are improvements to be made, but we will end our taijutsu session for today. You do have a lot of _other_ lessons for today."

I was silently cheering my "win" in the spar, but when I heard Rabbit's words, I mentally groaned. I followed my instructor to a large room filled with various scrolls and books, which was officially designated as a library. The variety of the books and scrolls was numerous, as Anbu and Root members were expected to have knowledge about a multitude of things that were critical to missions. Everything from current market prices of lumber to the weapons most commonly used by shinobi from Suna could be located on one of the many bookshelves. The room was fairly empty when we entered and the few Anbu members that were within the library were occupied with scrolls and books.

I sat down at an unoccupied table while Rabbit pulled a few scrolls and books from the shelves. Once he had collected the necessary materials for the day, he placed them on the table and sat down across from me, "Alright, are you already know, you will be heading to Uzushiogakure in order to carry out your first mission in a week's time. We have reviewed a few important pieces of information that you need for the mission, so I'll be quizzing you on the information that you learned so far.."

During my study sessions with Rabbit, I had memorized most of the Hidden Mist shinobi in the Bingo Books, the hand seals of commonly used _Suiton_ jutsu, and a few other things that I needed to know for my journey to Uzu's border. While Root was to only operate within the Land of Fire's borders, I was taught to be prepared for anything since I was journeying close to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water. It made sense that Rabbit would test me and drill anything useful into my head.

"First off, who is Ameyuri Ringo?"

"One of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and a powerful Kirigakure jonin. She wields the Kiba, twin swords that are considered some of the sharpest swords in existence. She is considered an A rank shinobi and has a flee on sight order for anyone lower than the rank of jonin."

Rabbit nodded in approval, "Good. But say you can't run away and she attempts to attack you while you have your mission's "package" with you. What then?"

I hesitated for a few silent moments before answering, "Since the package has some shinobi training, I would immediately fire my emergency flare in the air, try to distract her with one of my _Raiton_ jutsu, and send the package towards the Hidden Leaf while I attempt to delay Ringo."

"Ah, but you forgot a crucial piece of information about your potential foe," Rabbit pulled out a Bingo Book and rifled through the pages. He stopped at a page that contained a picture of a red-haired shinobi with shark-like teeth. "What is her elemental affinity?"

"_Raiton,_" I answered with a frown, "So my _Raiton_ abilities will be ineffective against a jonin level shinobi with a _Raiton_ affinity."

"Correct. You have some of the information in your head, but you were missing a critical piece of information that could have made the difference between a successful mission and a failed one," Rabbit tutted as he gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully, "Now, who is the current Uzukage?"

"Isamu Uzumaki. He is the Third Uzukage."

"If you are attacked by enemies and need to take a detour to rest or find safety near the border, where do you go?"

"Yugakure. Since they are considered a neutral nation and extremely hostile to intrusions within their territory, even the other major nations will avoid causing an international incident within its borders. If the enemies are bandits, then Yugakure will deploy their own shinobi to deal with them and allow us to take refuge since they are friendly to Konoha."

"The hand seal for Water Clone jutsu?"

"Tiger hand seal, and then a charge of chakra."

"Shinobi Code, Rule Number 26?"

"A shinobi must always be expecting the unexpected."

Rabbit leaned back in his chair and looked towards the entrance of the library, "Good. You'll be tested two more times before you leave, but today, you'll be meeting your teammate for the mission. I will be watching your mission progress from a distance, but unless you get into some deep trouble, I will be out of sight and you will be alone."

Just then, two figures walked into the library. One was a tall shinobi with a Tiger mask and the other was a familiar figure wearing a Deer mask. I could swear that the person with the Deer mask flinched when they saw me. Rabbit called them over and introduced me to the two, "Tiger, Deer, this is Dog. I'm sure you've met him before, though under more hostile circumstances. Deer, Dog will be your partner for the mission."

"Nice to meet you, _Dog,"_

I shook Deer's hand and grinned under my mask, "You too, _Deer._"

We both knew when who the other person was when we shook hands. After all, we've known each other for years.

* * *

I waited outside the Academy classroom 3-A the next day with my hands in my pocket. I was wearing a black jacket and khaki shorts along with brown shinobi sandals. The one good thing about being part of Root was that I got a decent amount of pay that I was able to use to pay for my own ninja equipment and clothes. While most of the pay from being a shinobi came from carrying out missions, Danzo paid the members of Root with a weekly stipend until we could go on our own missions. It was shockingly generous of him, but I wasn't complaining.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting, my target came skipping down the halls towards the classroom door. She was wearing her usual attire, but she had grown several inches since we've first met. I had grown fairly well also and I still hovered several inches above her, but both of us were fairly tall for our age. When my target saw me, she stopped and broke out into a smile, "So, you're in it too?"

"Yep, and here I thought that you were taking your clan heiress training more seriously and actually going to them."

Mikoto looked down sheepishly and scratched the back of her head, "Well... technically it is clan heiress training. I'm training to be a stronger shinobi."

I rolled my eyes as I beckoned for her to enter the classroom. The classroom was empty since Mikoto and I was usually some of the first students to arrive. We sat in our usual seats and chatted, "I bet _he_ planned this since he knows that we've worked with each other before."

"I wouldn't be surprised, though I'm happy that we're working together as a team!" Mikoto smiled brilliantly, "Too bad Shikaku isn't in it."

"In what?"

We both froze and turned around to see our other friend leaning casually against a desk. My hand came up to my heart and I nearly shouted at the lazy Nara, "Since when were you in here?"

Shikaku waved his hand and laid on the desk behind us with a book in his hand, "Since forever. I was lying down on the floor, trying to catch some sleep, when I heard you guys walk in and start talking between yourselves."

The pineapple haired ninja was shorter than both me and Mikoto but gained some muscle and weight since we started training with Dan-sensei. He was wearing a grey shirt and dark grey pants, very dull colors that helped him blend in with a crowd. When he saw the awkward silence in the room, he sighed and closed his book, "Look, if we're talking about _that_, then I'm also in it. Dan-sensei probably nominated all of us since we received advanced training for him. But don't talk about it so casually outside the usual training ground. It's too troublesome."

I blinked and looked at Mikoto. She had the same shocked look on her face, but she dragged the Nara off the desk and slapped him on the back, "Then we're all in it! That's great!"

"Yeah yeah, don't talk about it outside of the training ground though. You know the rules," Shikaku muttered as he released himself from Mikoto's grip and sprawled out on the desk again, "The last thing we want is to be tossed out for breaching the secret. What if I wasn't in it and someone else overheard you?"

We kept our lips shut about Root as the other students began to enter the classroom. Right before class was set to begin, our instructor, Chunin Yasutoki, walked in. Unlike schools I attended back on Earth, our instructor was constant and remained our permanent instructor throughout our time at the Academy. It was to foster a close teacher-student relationship and to help the students feel comfortable asking questions. He cleared his throat and slammed his clipboard onto his desk, "Alright! Class, we have a new classmate that will be joining us today. He was moved up from Classroom 2-A and will be a year younger than most of you, but I expect you to treat him like a normal classmate regardless. Am I clear?"

"Yes sensei," The class replied in near unison.

"Good," Our instructor waved his clipboard towards the door, "Minato, please come in and introduce yourself."

My eyes widened at the name and widened further upon seeing a small boy with bright blonde hair and azure eyes. The boy bowed to the class and smiled, "I'm Minato. Thank you for having me."

The instructor made him sit in an open seat in the front row and started up the lesson for the day. However, unlike my usual studious self, I was staring at the blond that was sitting several rows in front of me for a long time. I only woke up out of the trance once Mikoto nudged me with her elbow, "I didn't know you swung that way, Hiro-chan."

"What, no?" I sputtered out loudly enough for the instructor to glance at me with a frown. I settled in my seat quietly after that, but I turned to see that Mikoto was giggling silently into her book, "It's just, he seems so young..."

"I've heard about him through one of my other clan members and they said he was only a year younger than us," Mikoto whispered, "He's not _that_ younger than us."

I looked to Shikaku for help but found him taking notes intently. While the lesson on the board was about chakra control, which we practiced often with Dan, Shikaku's attention was unbroken as usual. He was always studious and diligent, and much to his chagrin he was also the instructor's favorite student.

"I guess," I mumbled as I also wrote down the content of the board.

"Too bad we didn't get to skip a grade, huh?"

While the three of us were certainly talented enough to be considered at least a genin already, Danzo specifically asked us to remain in the Academy and graduate along with the others. His reasoning was that since we were in Root and already acknowledged by some of the leaders of the village, we were better off being used as undercover agents as Academy students. It was mainly because foreign villages wouldn't' expect mere Academy students to be members of the Anbu subdivision and the Academy roster would be the last place they would check in order to discover our identities.

I shrugged, "It's not too bad, at least we look smarter than we actually are."

Mikoto giggled again and turned her focus back to the instructor. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

"Hi, my name is Hiroyoshi! You're the new kid, right?"

After years of practice, I managed to nail down a child's attitude fairly decently and I used it to great effect in front of people other than Root members, Dan, and my closest friends. I was smiling widely as I approached the blond and waited for him to turn to look at me.

Lunch had just started and I excused myself from Mikoto and Shikaku to talk to Minato. After all, it wasn't every day that you got to meet a future Hokage and powerful shinobi. It was possible that I had already changed the future significantly, but I was sure that Minato would still be a powerful shinobi one day due to his personality and intelligence. But that wasn't the only reason why I approached him. The kid was sitting by himself in the corner of the cafeteria silently, looking at a book every so often while he ate.

Minato turned away from his book and looked at me with a curious gaze, "Yes, I'm Minato. How can I help you?"

I was slightly taken aback at the kid's tone and way of speech, as he sounded similar to how I sounded when I first arrived in Konoha. However, I maintained my smile while talking to him, "I noticed that you were sitting by yourself, so I wanted to ask if you wanted to sit with me and my friends!"

The blond pondered on the offer for a second but answered in a clipped manner, "No thank you. I'm fine sitting by myself. Thank you for the offer."

He bowed his head before returning to his lunch and book.

I couldn't say that I was entirely surprised, but I dejectedly turned away and walked back to sit with my closest friends.

"Did he want to join us?" Mikoto asked while eating her bowl of rice.

I shook my head, "He says he wanted to be alone and he seemed really focus on a book."

Shikaku, who was also reading while eating, raised an eyebrow, "And is there a problem with eating and reading a book?"

"No no, I was just surprised that he wanted to remain by himself."

"A book is always better to read when reading by yourself in a quiet place," Shikaku glanced at the lone blond in the corner and nodded his head in approval.

Mikoto poked him to gain his attention, "Then why are you here with us then?"

The Nara groaned as he drank some of his miso soup, carefully placing the book to the side while doing so, "Because if I tried to do that, you would drag me back to you guys anyways."

Mikoto and I laughed and soon after, Shikaku also joined in. Sure, having Minato as a friend would be great, but he was destined for greatness and I already had two great friends. Life wasn't too bad.

"By the way, my father wants the two of you at the Uchiha Compound today," Mikoto interjected suddenly.

I nearly choked on my tempura at the mention of Mikoto's father, "Why?"

"He says he wants to overwatch our training while Dan is gone on his mission," The Uchiha heiress lowered her voice and leaned in towards me, "And he knows about our trip and wants to make sure we're prepared."

I gulped down the tempura that was caught in my throat with a glass of water and nodded, "Makes sense. I'm sure that Shikaku is also _enthused_ as I am about visiting your father."

Shikaku _put down his book_ and looked at me with betrayal in his eyes, "Sure."

We talked and joked between ourselves until the end of the lunch period. I was still nervous about being around Mikoto's father, but at least I knew he had good intentions and deeply cared for Mikoto. I had seen him around the Uchiha Compound often since I lived there, but I only spoke to him a few times during my time at the Uchiha Compound due to his clan head duties. The invitation to oversee our training was sudden, but hopefully, I would learn much under his tutelage.

* * *

"Welcome, Hiro," Uchiha Mikio stated as he greeted me stoically, "I hope that you are ready for your training?"

I looked around a large, private training area that was attached to Mikoto's house. The house of the Uchiha head (and heiress) was large and intimidating, with a very traditional Japanese feel to it. It was towards the edge of the Compound, the further spot away from the rest of the village. I had visited the house a few times to see Mikoto, but I still felt like an intruder in the training ground itself. Yet, Mikio was undisturbed and watched me from a distance.

"I am ready, Uchiha-sama," I greeted with a bow, "May I ask why the others are training separately?"

It seemed as though the entire Uchiha clan was obsessed with training regularly, as I saw that every house had at least one training ground in it. However, Mikoto's house had three separate training grounds, with each training ground set aside for individuals in the Head's family to use privately. Mikoto and Shikaku were both in one of the two other training grounds that were not used by myself and Mikio.

"Because all of you are different from one another and need to be trained differently. You will be training together in due time, but for at least the first hour, I will be training you myself," Mikio answered simply, "Additionally, there are a few things I must discuss with you privately."

Mikio's chakra flared a bit as if he was angry, so I quieted down and waited for his instructions. Mikio composed himself and stepped forward, "Now, you have an affinity for _Raiton_, correct?"

"Yes, Uchiha-sama."

"My main affinity is also _Raiton_. I was told of this some time ago, but I decided to wait for some time before I approached you about more advanced training. Originally, I was planning on waiting after you moved into your fourth year at the Academy. But I was told that you will be going on the _trip_ along with Mikoto." Mikio loosened his hands and placed them in front of his chest, "Now I would hate to see my daughter be injured or such on her _trip_, so I will make sure that both she and you are prepared."

He showed me a set of hand seals and then proceeded to show me a jutsu, _"Raiton: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Lightning Clone Technique)."_

Electric currents shot out of his body and converged to create a clone. The clone looked completely like him and when Mikio punched it in the shoulder, the clone didn't disperse, "Lightning Clone Technique. It's a B-rank jutsu that requires a fair amount of chakra, but it can be very useful in a retrieval mission."

I looked at the Uchiha head hesitantly, "Do you know the details of the mission."

"Of course. If I'm putting my daughter's precious life on the line, then I deserve to know what she might be facing. Danzo told me himself after she was assigned the mission," Mikio frowned at me in disapproval, "Let us not get sidetracked and continue. The strength and durability of the clone will determine on how much chakra you pour into it. The more chara you pour into it, the more hits it will be able to take before dispersing. Not only is the clone solid, but the clone itself can be used as a weapon. Because the clone is made of electricity, it will shock any individual it makes contact with for a short period of time. Even experienced jonin will feel a slight numbness that will slow down their speed for a moment."

Mikio's eyes maintained his stare and activated his Sharingan. Three tomoe spiraled in his eyes before it came to a stop, "From what I can discern, you have fairly large chakra reserves. I would say that you can make four average clones safely without any drawbacks. For today, we will practice this jutsu and improve your speed."

He went through the hand seals for the jutsu once again and I imitated him. He ordered me to make my clone with an "average" amount of chakra and I carried out his order to the best of my abilities. When the electricity converged to create a clone next to me, Mikio inspected it thoroughly and then punched it. The clone broke apart into electric currents and dissipated harmlessly into the ground, "You need to place more chakra into your clone. A Lightning clone made with an average amount of chakra, even in your case, should last at least three hits. If it lasts only one hit, then the enemy will immediately know that it is a fake. For your retrieval mission, you will be aiming to divert a hostile shinobi's attention while you flee instead of fighting them directly head-on. If your clone is destroyed too early, then you will be chased down and _eliminated. _But using up too much chakra on a single clone can cause you to collapse and slow down significantly."

I tried the jutsu again, this time with a greater amount of chakra. The clone appeared once more and interestingly, the clone attempted to spar Mikio. The clone took four blows from Mikio before disappearing into the ground. "Better, your chakra control is most definitely up to par and that will be important, as each mission will need a clone with the perfect amount of chakra to carry out its tasks."

I repeated the jutsu for the thirty minutes and unwillingly sat on the ground by the end of it, exhausted from the amount of chakra I had to use. After I made a single "average" clone, Mikio made me practice creating clones with smaller amounts of chakra. It was tiring, but also rewarding. I already had a number of _Raiton_ jutsu under my belt and this one was one of the most useful ones yet.

Mikio looked unimpressed as I breathed heavily while sitting but didn't comment on it, "I will allow you to rest for five minutes before continuing on to the next exercise. This one will be much more tiring. However, even with only a week's time, it will improve your speed significantly."

I nodded tiredly from where I was sitting and thanked him. While I was resting, the man towered above me and placed his arms behind his back, "While you are resting, I will tell you what I wanted to say to you during our private session."

My only reaction was my head turning towards him rapidly and he took the action as an affirmative, "Hopefully, you will not be facing any dangerous shinobi during your mission, but I ask that you take care of Mikoto and return safely. _Both_ of you."

"I will, Uchiha-sama."

"I said for both of you to return safely not just because you are sponsored by our clan and because Mikoto is my daughter. It is for the Nara heir's sake as well."

_That_ grabbed my attention, "Shikaku?"

"Perhaps he has not told you as of yet, but I will tell you so that you understand his situation. His father and I were good friends and he would not have wanted for his son to remain reclusive and obsessed with merely improving his shinobi abilities," Mikio stated, his usual impassive mask breaking ever so slightly, "You have noticed, haven't you? That Shikaku is very focused during classes and remains quiet even when the three of you are together?"

What he was saying wasn't false. Shikaku was one of my closest friends, but he did tend to isolate himself into his book at times and never spoke with Mikoto and me during class. He was friendly and talked at times, but he seemed to be always reading and daydreaming even when he was with us.

I nodded in reply and Mikio grimaced, "Mikoto told me that this was the case. You see, his father died six years ago due to natural causes, a disease that no doctors in Konoha could cure. He was only thirty at the time and he left the clan head position for his son to inherit at a very young age. He was a very talented shinobi, and a clan head to boot. When he died, Konoha lost a great clan head and a valuable tactician. The Nara heir was devastated and swore to uphold his father's legacy since that day, constantly trying to increase his knowledge and improve himself as a shinobi."

"But isn't there a reason that he hasn't told us yet?"

"Perhaps, but I believe it is better for you to know and be aware of your friend's situation. He does seem happier now when I see him, but he still maintains a mask. In a way, he is much like Mikoto before she met the two of you. Perhaps that is why I spoke about his issues to you," Mikio held up his hand, "You do not need to mention to him that you know about his father's death, but please keep an eye on him and be there for him. And return safely."

Mikio bowed his head slightly and I was taken aback by his sudden intimacy, "I... I understand, Uchiha-sama."

"Good, now that you understand, let us move onto the next part of your training..."

* * *

"You ready?"

"Deer" stabbed me with her elbow, but I shook my head and wagged my finger in disapproval, "We have to be professional, _Deer_. No joking around."

I could almost swear she was pouting underneath her mask, "I know, I know. My bad."

The moon was shining brightly in the sky, illuminating our figures slightly in the moonlight. We were just outside the city limits and hidden within the trees. "Deer" and I both were fully equipped with ninja tools and Root uniform. The Root uniform was only slightly different than the Anbu uniform, as the Root uniform consisted of a dark gray shirt, a black flak vest, and dark gray pants. Both Mikoto and I were wearing our usual masks and waiting for our mission provider to arrive.

During the week before the mission, I continued my training with Mikio and Root. Mikio's speed exercise tired me out immensely, as it was basically a treadmill but with moving arms to attack me while I ran. However, it helped me improve my reflexes and speed while moving noticeably in a short amount of time. I could see why the Uchiha were well renowned for their battle prowess, they trained intensively and thoroughly. I also managed to learn the Lightning Clone well enough to the point where I could summon two at a time and control the chakra embedded into each clone to an extent. I wasn't perfect at making the LightningClone, but it was certainly enough for the technique to be useful in the field. But during my time training with him, my thoughts were always on what he told me on the first day of training. I looked at Shikaku differently, but I treated him like a good friend as always and tried to open him up a bit more. Only a week had passed since I've tried to include him more into conversations and hangouts, so I had yet to see the fruits of efforts.

During my training at Root, I drilled more important information into my head and practiced both my ninjutsu and taijutsu. My instructor made somewhat positive comments throughout the week, most likely in hopes to motivate me, and met with me on the days I wasn't run ragged by Mikio. The day before the mission was set to begin, I was given the day off to rest and recover, which I missed school in order to do so.

After waiting for a few more minutes, Rabbit shot out of the sky and landed in front of us, entering in a flashy way as usual. He handed both of us a scroll individually and leaned against a branch, "You know the mission, but these are official mission scrolls in case you need to prove your identity and mission to someone. This mission is officially a C-rank mission. You have six days to finish the mission. Remember, I will be near you, but I will not directly interfere unless I deem that you are in a dangerous situation. Am I understood?"

"Understood," Both of us answered nonchalantly. As part of the mission, we practiced adjusting the pitches of our voice to sound different than normal. My voice sounded a tone lower while Mikoto's voice was slightly higher.

"Good, then your mission has now begun. Be on your way to your destination and retrieve the package."

The Anbu agent moved out of our sights and we immediately began to make our way towards our destination. We traveled at a moderate pace in order to conserve our stamina and watched for any sudden movements in the shadows. Mikoto was in front of me, using her Sharingan every so often to look for any chakra signatures nearby. I followed behind her and used my Proximity Detection jutsu regularly to watch our flank. We remained silent throughout the entire time, as we knew that Rabbit was somewhere nearby watching us.

Our trip to the Uzu-Konoha border was uneventful and we arrived after two days. The only time I chatted with Mikoto was to discuss our mission and our path to the border. It was strange to see Mikoto remain so quiet, but it was sensible since we were in the middle of a mission.

When we finally arrived at our destination, a pair of red-headed shinobi were already waiting for us. One of them was a tall male with fading scars on his cheeks and wristbands. The other was a shorter female with glasses. Waiting between the two of them was a single child with bright red hair and wearing a green dress. The male shinobi nodded his head towards us as we arrived and gently squatted down next to the crimson-haired girl with a smile, "Now Kushina, these two will take you to Konoha. You might not know anyone there, but remember to stay strong. We'll always be hoping for your success, so make Uzu proud."

"I will, _ni-san_!" Kushina answered cheerfully.

By now, I was so used to seeing various figures from the Naruto series, that I was unfazed at the mention of Kushina's name. The girl hugged the two shinobi tightly before she turned to Mikoto and me, "I'm Kushina, _dattebane_! What are your names?"

I smiled a little on the inside due to her enthusiasm and answered, "I'm Dog, and this is Deer. We will be your protectors on your trip to Konoha."

Before Kushina can say more, the shinobi with glasses spoke on her behalf, "Please take care of her. For both of our villages."

"You can count on us ma'am," Mikoto said pretentiously. I could tell she was smiling beneath her mask.

Hugging the Uzu shinobi one last time, Kushina joined us on our journey back to Konoha. The trip was expected to take two more days, without any hitches of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, we close off another chapter. Two main characters were introduced: Minato, an intelligent and talented kid who's a bit socially awkward and of course, Kushina, who will become one of the main characters after this chapter. Like in the series, she will be ostracized and isolated due to her foreign status and red hair, but that will change due to the presence of our MC.
> 
> Now onto answering reviews!
> 
> 1) I apologize for the dialogue being rough in the first few chapters. I kinda wanted to portray the awkwardness of Hiro when he first came to the Naruto universe. Of course, that doesn't excuse the bad writing, but I do promise that it will get better (and hopefully it has gotten better in the recent chapters)!
> 
> 2) As I mentioned in the Author's Note in the opening, I will slow down the pace significantly and try to keep it detailed and action-orientated as possible. I apologize for the sudden change in pace, but I came back to this story after a break so I was a bit lost when I restarted. That will not happen from now on :)
> 
> 3) Hiro isn't a Gary Stue (Or a Mary Sue). He's certainly talented and does have an A-rank jutsu under his belt, but he will be extremely limited on how Rasengans he can use per day. He's not Naruto, so he does not have an infinite amount of chakra. Any powerful jutsu he uses will be severely limited for the time being. He will use the Rasengan as an opener to smash his opponents, but the Rasengan relies on excellent control and it is difficult to maintain over a period of time. Therefore, he will be unable to use it excessively and use it smartly/selectively. His taijutsu is average chunin level as of current, while his ninjutsu is a bit stronger. His knowledge of genjutsu is limited to dispelling them, which he is good at due to his excellent chakra control. He will improve fast, but compared to some geniuses seen in the original series, he's rated significantly below Kakashi and Itachi when they were the same age as he was. And no, I'm not nerfing him purposely and he isn't trying to be "normal." Hiro is a student with above-average intelligence and chakra reserves. Do remember that before he came to this world, he only had vague specific knowledge about jutsu and such and was an ordinary adult on Earth. He's smart because he's more mature and he's willing to work hard.
> 
> 4) This Root isn't the same Root as the series. This was when Root was first created. Danzo isn't batshit insane (yet? who knows) and he's a regular Anbu commander. His character will be expanded upon later on in the story when Hiro interacts with him more in Root (or even Anbu? where will Hiro end up?).
> 
> That's all for now. Thank you for reading, and see you again next time.
> 
> (Edit: Someone also asked why Hiro doesn't use his knowledge from Earth to create firearms or gunpowder based explosives. Several reasons on why he has not taken this route:
> 
> 1) Hiro is an orphan with limited spending money and resources. Even with basic knowledge of what a firearm is and how it operates, it'll be difficult for him to create one (and he wasn't a gunsmith or such in his life on Earth). Also, knowing about firearms is very different than creating firearms.  
2) The creator of Naruto explicitly mentioned that even powerful jutsu like the Susanoo can be destroyed by firearms. If Hiro somehow manages to build a gun, it can threaten the balance of the entire shinobi world. There's also the fact that other Hidden Villages will eventually figure out how to build their own firearms and cause even more risks for the MC.  
3) It's never really mentioned if gunpowder and the such do exist in the Naruto verse, so I opted not to devolve into that topic.)


	7. Fight or Flight

"_There was no such thing as a fair fight. All vulnerabilities must be exploited_."

_-Cary Caffrey_

* * *

Our group journey's towards Konoha came under trouble about an hour after we recovered our "package."

"Movement up ahead." Mikoto plainly announced.

I grabbed Kushina and moved to the top of a nearby tree, while Mikoto took a position in a nearby tree. Both of us waited nervously while I used my Proximity Detection jutsu. I detected nothing and signaled to Mikoto that there wasn't anyone directly nearby, but I still motioned for her to stay hidden. I was this mission's leader, so she heeded my warning and remained in the shadows.

Several long minutes passed before a trio of shinobi emerged from the forest. As they passed by, I noticed the headbands worn by each of the shinobi. They were clearly marked with the symbol of Kiri, four wavy lines arranged into a square. The blood in my veins froze as they closed in on the trees that we were hiding in. As they got closer, I grabbed a kunai out of my holster to prepare for a fight. Strangely, they did not seem to be searching for us and moved past the trees we were hiding in without a second thought.

My grip on the kunai did not slacken until I was sure that they had left the area. Even then, my hand hovered over the weapon as my eyes swept through the nearby forest. From the corner of my eye, I saw that Mikoto was about to head over to my location, but I raised one hand and motioned for her to remain hidden.

I only saw three shinobi with my eyes. A typical shinobi cell had four shinobi in it: one captain and three squad members. This did vary by each village and mission, but that was the official "standard." To ensure that the coast was clear, I used my Proximity Detection jutsu to scan my immediate vicinity. I detected nothing, but that didn't ease my heightened anxiety.

A few moments later, my fears were confirmed when a Kiri shinobi ran into our surroundings by himself. From the looks of it, the lone shinobi was a spotter to watch the team's flank while they moved in hostile territory. While some teams didn't need spotters, due to having powerful sensor types in their team, most teams often utilized a spotter to prevent ambushes and surprise attacks. As such, the spotters were usually the most powerful shinobi on the team as they were alone most of the time.

I studied the man's face carefully as he passed by, trying to recall if his face matched any of the faces in the Bing Books. My mind raced as I raked through my memories for a confirmation. As the man slipped out of sight, I finally managed to remember who he was.

Itoh Atasuke, Tokebetsu Jonin of Kirigakure. Excellent in ninjutsu and speed. Average in taijutsu and genjutsu. He was known to be a brash and confident individual. He had a ten million ryo bounty on his head, which was around one million American dollars. The large bounties of certain individuals boggled my mind, but the reason why a "mere" Tokebetsu Jonin had such a high bounty was due to his abilities. Specifically speaking, Itoh Atasuke was a member of the Atasuke clan, a clan with a Kekkei Genkai.

Mud Release.

I have never heard of the Mud Release before my journey to the Naruto world, but I did know that Kiri went through a violent purge of Kekkei Genkai users in the original series. So it wasn't unreasonable that the Atasuke clan was exterminated before or during the main series. Regardless, the Mud Release was considered a valuable and dangerous art that was highly sought after by other villages. A Mud Release user could turn any form of dirt into mud and create powerful attacks and defenses utilizing the mud. Which was why the Tokebetsu Jonin had such a large bounty on him.

But that only made me feel worse about the situation. If the man was acting as a spotter even with such a huge bounty on him, it meant that he was very formidable. And the last thing I wanted to do was to engage him.

After I was sure that he was out of the clearing, I sent one single low chakra Lighting clone as a decoy towards Konoha to see if the coast was clear. Unfortunately, the clone was immediately shot down by a mud ball and disappeared.

"I know you're here, might as well give up while you still have the chance to do so!"

Luckily, he didn't seem to know our exact location, so I placed Kushina in a fireman's carry and I motioned to Mikoto that we were going to flee. I made three low chakra clones and gave two of them just enough chakra to change into the appearances of Kushina and Mikoto. The Mud Release user's attacks were powerful and I doubted that even an average chakra clone could withstand a single hit, "Run towards Konoha and try to dodge as many of his attacks as you can. Stay high in the trees and avoid the ground."

All three of my lightning clones nodded and dispersed immediately. Itoh reappeared into my field of vision but began pursuing the clones while attacking. The clones were already high up in the trees and managed to dodge the projectiles that came their way. The second Itoh disappeared towards the direction of Konoha, I raced towards Yugakure as fast as I could with Mikoto in tow.

Thankfully, we were not too far off from the Land of Hot Water, as we were still close to the Uzu-Konoha border. Even so, my speed was slowed down considerably due to the weight of Kushina on my shoulders. I was surprised to see that she hadn't made a noise yet and when I glanced at her face briefly, all I saw was shock and terror written across her face.

"Don't worry, I don't think they were after you," I said reassuringly, "If they were, they would have attacked us right away instead of casually passing our position. I'm guessing the one that attacked us was just a _bit_ more attentive than his comrades."

Kushina still looked scared, but nodded her head slowly, "If you need help, I can also help _dattebane_! I have some seal scrolls hidden in my dress that I can use to beat him up!"

I _almost_ wanted to chuckle, but I couldn't due to the seriousness of the situation, "It won't come to that. Our goal is to bring you to Konoha safely. You won't need to fight, I promise."

I turned my head forward before hearing her reply and focused on sprinting at full speed towards my goal. Mikoto and I switched positions so that she could activate her Sharingan and look for any chakra signatures. After about thirty minutes of fleeing, Mikoto finally spoke, "We have incoming. He has the same chakra signature as the shinobi that attacked us and he's moving towards us rapidly."

For _once_, I wanted Rabbit to come down on us with his usual flashy entrance, but the Anbu agent was nowhere in sight. We were still ways from the border and I doubted that we would be able to outrun him due to his absurd speed. Recognizing the only option at this point, I stopped on a branch and handed Kushina to Mikoto, "Go. I'll delay him. We won't make it at this rate, but I'll be able to slow him down enough for you to reach the Yu border."

Mikoto looked extremely hesitant and seemed reluctant to leave me behind, but I pushed her sternly, "Go! You don't have much time. Remember the mission!"

She dragged her feet and picked up Kushina. As she was about to leave, she turned back to me and her right hand reached towards me. Before it could touch me, she held back and gripped her hand into a tight ball. Soon after, she was on her way with our "package" towards the Land of Hot Water.

I knew I was at a disadvantage, even disregarding the fact that my opponent was a Tokebetsu Jonin. My opponent could use the ground against me and seemingly had longe-range jutsu that prevented me from attacking him head-on with my ace in the hole. My brain went through several different plans before finally settling on one that could potentially catch my foe off guard.

It wasn't a perfect plan, but no plan was perfect in the face of reality.

The Atasuke clan member charged through the trees and saw me waiting on a tree branch. He immediately lowered himself onto the ground and the ground around him shifted into mud, "Tell me, where are your two friends? Did you lose a game of lots and got left behind?"

I didn't answer and allowed him to continue talking, "Normally, I would let a mere Konoha nobody like you go free so you can scamper back to that village of yours, but you saw the faces of me and my teammates. So unfortunately for you, I'll have to end your life and then end the lives of your friends."

It seemed like I was right to assume that Kushina was not their target. Instead, Mikoto, Kushina, and I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I wasn't relieved, as I was too focused on the ninja in front of me, but I steeled my nerves and asked him a question," How did you manage to track us down?"

"Heh. You and I are both shinobi. Do you really think I would give away my shinobi secrets that easily?" Itoh gave me a feral smile and brandished his muddy hands, "Judging by the fact that the unmasked girl had red hair and that you and the other Anbu had mud on your feet, you guys were coming back from Uzugakure, huh? Whatever mission you had, considered it _failed_."

The guy was _really_ talkative and confident about himself, but I didn't mind. It gave more time for Mikoto and Kushina to flee and for me to gather information about Mud Release users to bring back to Konoha. Assuming I came out of this fight alive, that was.

Without a warning, a mud ball streaked past me and I backflipped off the branch I was standing on. The mud ball obliterated the spot I was standing on just moments ago and landed on the ground with a hard thud. Using this opportunity, I hid behind a tree and summoned a clone with an average amount of chakra. I made the clone jump into one of the branches nearby and pretend like it was myself. Meanwhile, I emerged from my position and rushed towards the Mud Release user.

"Trying to trick me with one of your stupid clones again? Can't fool me!" The Tokebetsu Jonin lobbed a mudball towards my direction and then launched a wave of mud towards my clone, "_Deiton: Doro Safin__! (Mud Release: Mud Surf)!_"

I dodged the mudball easily and ignored the fact that my clone was buried under a large pile of mud. While I sprinted towards the Kiri shinobi, I formed a sphere of chakra in my right hand silently. Before he could turn towards me to acknowledge my attack, I landed the Rasengan directly into his left abdomen.

The Rasengan tore through his side immediately and threw him into the ground in a heap. I immediately retreated and launched a _Raiton_ jutsu from a distance, just in case he was still alive, "_Raiton: Raikou Kousen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Beam Jutsu)!_"

A beam of electricity shot out from my hands and struck my downed target head-on. His body shuddered from the impact but stilled immediately after. I cautiously approached the body with a kunai at hand. If he was still alive, then I was going to kill him. As immoral as that sounded, my own life was on the line and I wasn't taking any chances.

When I stepped within five feet of him, his body shot out several mud balls toward me and I was unable to react fast enough to the attack. I was struck by two mudballs, one of them struck my right shoulder while the other glanced off my left leg. I screamed out in agony as I collapsed onto the ground from the agonizing pain. My right shoulder felt dislocated and shattered while my left leg felt like I had been shot in the thighs. I had never understood the phrase, "Seeing black before falling unconscious," but I definitely understood the reference now. Black spots materialized out of nowhere and I felt on the verge of passing out from the pain.

I _barely _managed to make out my opponent rising to his feet and dusting himself off. His left abdomen, the place where I hit him with my Rasengan was bleeding, but it was caked in mud and dirt instead of being a fresh wound. He also moved slowly and hesitantly, most likely due to my _Raiton_ jutsu. Regardless, he was still standing and holding a single mudball in his hand, "A pity, you were _so_ close to breaching my Mud Armor, but your attack fell just a bit short. You see, my Mud Armor can withstand a dual hit from the Kiba! Your attack was _impressive_, for a Konoha shinobi, but lacking like all Konoha shinobi."

He stood directly above me and readied his mudball near my face, "I admit, you fought... hmm... decently. And stalled me long enough to save your friends. But since you annoyed me and ruined my Mud Armor, I'll have to put an end to you."

I was afraid of dying, plain and simple. But my body was unresponsive and I was unable to move away from him. As the mudball fell towards my face, I closed my eyes and _willed_ for my left hand and arm to move.

I _wasn't_ going to die in the middle of nowhere due to my own weakness. I still had to get stronger, survive, and change the future of this world for the better.

Suddenly, my left hand jerked to life just fast enough to grab the kunai that had fallen on the ground next to me and smack away the mudball using the blunt end. I yelled from the pain caused by the sudden movement and saw the darkness closing in on me. The Kekki Genkai user's eyes widened for just a moment before he was struck by a jutsu that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"_Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique)_!"

The jutsu hit the Tokebetsu Jonin directly on the exposed left side and pummeled him away from my body. Before I faded into unconsciousness, I saw the familiar figure of a shinobi with a Rabbit mask. Before I could call out to him, my world went black.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, a ray of light shined into my eyes and I briefly wondered if everything I experienced had just been a vivid dream. However, when my vision cleared, I discovered that I was on an unfamiliar bed and the shining light was from the sunlight that was coming through the window. I blinked rapidly and inspected my arms and legs. I was wearing a white gown and had casts on my injured shoulder and leg. The Dog mask I wore on my face during the mission was gone and so was all my uniform and equipment. As I brought myself to a sitting position, I looked around to see exactly where I was.

The room was white and clean, with several pieces of furniture present in the room to give it a homely feel. It seemed as though the room was a personal one, as I was the only occupant. Through the window, I caught a glimpse of the Hokage Rock and internally sighed in relief as I realized I was safely back in Konoha. As my eyes darted around the room, they came across a basket filled with fruits and flowers were sitting on top of a dresser. The colorful content of the basket stood out noticeably from the rather dull colors of the room. As I tried to climb out of the bed to inspect the basket, I felt a dull pain in my shoulder and leg and winced. The pain made me recollect the memories of my fight with the Kekki Genkai user and as I recalled the details of the fight, my head began to ache. I rubbed my temple as the pain worsened as I remembered more and more memories.

"So you're awake."

I jumped in surprise, only to topple back onto my bed to avoid placing weight on my injured leg. I glared at the source of the voice and found my Root mentor leaning against the window.

"Do you scare everyone that you greet on purpose?" I asked jokingly.

Rabbit snorted and crossed his arms, "No, just you."

"Are you even allowed to see me without my mask?"

"I had to take off your equipment and mask to throw off any suspicions about your involvement in Root. I knew your identity since the beginning because I was assigned to watch over you whenever I was free You are my student, after all, and I needed to see what you were like outside of our personal training time."

"And how long have I been out?"

"For about a week."

An awkward silence passed between the two of us as both of us tried to come up with something to say. I was the one to break the ice first, "How did you know I was awake?"

"I have my ways," Rabbit answered vaguely, "But I was going to come to visit you regardless. You were in rough shape when I brought you to the hospital. You had a broken shoulder, shattered femur, minor whiplash, and a concussion to boot. Thankfully, the medics managed to patch you up rapidly and stated that you'll be fine after two weeks."

"Two weeks."

Rabbit looked out the window silently when he heard my words. I didn't blame him for the fight at all, but it seemed as though he thought otherwise, "Look, Rabbit. I don't blame you for what happened to me."

"No," Rabbit turned back to me and fiddled with a kunai, "It was my fault. I left you alone against someone that was far beyond your skill level and you nearly died because of that. I _did_ intervene late because I was holding off his team, but I should've dealt with Itoh Atasuke _before_ I intercepted his teammates. You put up an impressive fight, but it was a fight that almost cost you your life."

"I chose to engage! You didn't make that choice for me. I couldn't let any of them die or let the mission fail, so I chose to fight him. You're not responsible for that."

The Anbu agent placed his kunai away and sighed, "Look, I know. If I had to choose between running and fighting during that mission, I would have done the same thing. The mission was important and your comrade was also important. But do remember that _you_ are also important. You are valuable as an individual and as an asset to the village."

He walked over to me and paced around my bed, "You fought well considering your circumstances, but you could have made better choices. You were close enough to the border to use your flare and to attract the attention of nearby shinobi. Since you were close to the Land of Hot Waters, Yugakure might have deployed shinobi to break up the fight. Or you could have just delayed his advance by harassing him instead of fighting him head-on."

"The point is!" Rabbit stopped directly in front of me, "Even though I was at fault, you could have handled the situation better. Admittedly, you did ensure the success of the mission and helped the village capture a valuable Kekkei Genkai user. Even still, remember that you are _valuable_. Do not throw away your life for heroics, think more thoroughly to _avoid_ fights whenever possible, and ensure to come back to Konoha _alive_ and with your mission complete. You think very strategically when you're fighting, but you become too focused on _fighting itself_."

I took his words in and recalled what the Uchiha Head told me before I left, _Please keep an eye on him, and be there for him. And return safely_.

My head bowed in shame as I realized that I was too focused on trying to save the others and fighting the Atasuke clan member. I remembered the memories of my thoughts at the time clearly despite the pain. I was far too willing to go down fighting if that meant the mission was a success and my companions were safe. Rabbit was right, if I was focused on both myself and others, then I could have potentially found another way to deal with the situation. I was so hell-bent on making sure Mikoto survived, that I neglected my own attempt at survival.

I had to remember that I wasn't some chosen hero. I was sent to this world so I could have the "exciting" life I wanted. And I almost threw that away due to my narrow mindedness.

I looked up to Rabbit and bowed deeply, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Just take this as an important lesson and don't repeat it."

As the conversation turned less serious, I stood back up and grabbed the gift basket, "Who sent this?"

"Your school friends, the Uchiha heiress and the Nara heir," Rabbit replied. I raised my eyebrow questioningly and he answered as if he read my mind, "They came by yesterday to check up on you. Both of them looked downcast as they stayed by your side, especially the Uchiha heiress."

Hearing Mikoto's and Shikaku's name made my chest heavy. I felt especially guilty towards Mikoto since she was most likely blaming herself for my injuries. I picked up one of the flowers and gripped it tightly, "Can I go see them?"

"They'll be here soon. They visit your room daily during the afternoon. It's around three right now, the Academy should be ending soon," Rabbit replied. Before I asked any more questions, he pulled out several papers from his back pocket, "Also, these are for you."

I took them from him and skimmed through the papers, "A promotion to Root captain, a personal letter from the Hokage, a check for completing the mission, _and_ a check for completing a bounty?"

Rabbit chuckled from my sudden look of surprise, "Well, Danzo-sama was very _pleased_ with your overall performance. He thought you did an admirable job making sure the mission was completed, so he decided to place you as a potential captain candidate. Keep in mind, your promotion won't be officialized until you finish your Root training, pass the official captain test, _and_ lead a few more successful missions. You still have three more months of Root training left, so you still have plenty of time to improve. As for the personal letter, it's usually a standard procedure for Hokage-sama to send a letter of thanks to shinobi that carried out dangerous missions and sustained major injuries. The pay for your mission is pretty self-explanatory. As for the bounty, technically, you fought Itoh Atasuke for most of the fight while I delivered just the final blow. Therefore, you got half of his bounty while I got half of his bounty. He's currently locked up in a cell somewhere while he's being interrogated and _examined_."

I still couldn't get over the fact that I received a check for half a million dollars for fighting just one shinobi. As I stared at the sum of the check, the door of the room swung wide open and two individuals stepped into the room. Both of them stared at me disbelievingly and then pounced on me. I looked back at Rabbit for help, but like always, he was nowhere to be found.

"Ow, guys!" I complained, "I'm still recovering here!"

Mikoto refused to let go of my left arm while Shikaku inspected every part of my body. I managed to limp back towards the bed and detached them from me. When they finally settled down, I bowed my head deeply towards them, "I'm sorry for worrying both of you."

"Idiot!" Mikoto replied, rubbing her eyes with her hands. She gripped my right hand tightly and stared directly into my eyes, "Don't you _dare_ do that again! Do you know how worried I was and..."

Her words trailed off as she sobbed uncontrollably and dampened my hospital gown. I awkwardly patted her head and hugged her, "I'm sorry, Mikoto. It won't happen again."

"You better not, or I'll beat you up and drag you back to the village myself," Shikaku muttered while Mikoto cried. He gripped my left shoulder tightly, "But seriously, don't do it again."

For once, Shikaku wasn't reading and his tone was dead serious. His usual laid back attitude was replaced by one that was unwavering and resolute. I inclined my head in agreement silently and he nodded in reply. As he released his tight grip on my shoulder, he mumbled, "She wouldn't be the only one to miss you."

* * *

After two weeks, I was released from a hospital with a stern warning from the hospital staff. Apparently, the cover story was that I was injured in a training accident and suffered multiple blunt blows from a jutsu that went awry. As a result, the doctor that overwatched my recovery told me to be more cautious during training and to avoid any intense training for at least another month. I agreed with his words and he signed the proper paperwork to release me from the hospital. I couldn't train even if I wanted to, I was on crutches for at least another week and had a cast on my shoulder.

When I returned back to my apartment in the Uchiha District, I found a surprise waiting for me.

Dan, who I hadn't seen in over a month, and my closest friends were waiting for me inside. When my sensei turned to me, I saw the mixed emotions displayed on his face. He seemed proud, happy, and remorseful all at the same time. He closed in on me and gave me a hug, "Thank god you're alright, Hiro."

I smiled as I hugged him back, "I'm fine, sensei. Are you ok?"

He gave me a weary smile and laughed, "Better than you are. I just came back to Konoha yesterday and I heard about your injury, so I decided to come with Mikoto and Shikaku to visit you."

"That means a lot to me. Thank you," I answered sincerely.

"Once you get better, I'll teach you some more advanced material so you can defend yourself better. Until then, you're going to rest up and relax!" Dan grinned as he gathered us all together, "To celebrate Hiro's discharge from the hospital, we're going to go eat out as a team!"

Mikoto cheered loudly while Shikaku raised his fist in the air as if he was silently celebrating. I lifted my crutches to join in on the cheering and directed my attention to the blue-haired jonin, "So, where are we eating then?"

"Your choice. And it's on me since I just got paid!"

I didn't comment that I received nearly five million ryos in payment for turning in a bounty, along with the pay for the mission to boot. I leaned on my crutches to think for a few seconds, before coming up with an answer, "Ramen Ichiraku."

It had already been over two years since I arrived in Konoha. During that time span, I never visited Ramen Ichiraku for several reasons. The first one was that I only recently managed to get spending money to use for myself. Before I joined Root and received some pay, I was an orphan living in an apartment provided for by the Uchiha clan. I had no direct source of income and the small stipend I received from the Uchiha clan was used for my shinobi gear, clothes, and food. For food, I bought fresh ingredients from stores and cooked for myself, as it was cheaper than going out to eat in a restaurant. Even after receiving a small, consistent pay from Root, I devoted my income to improving my equipment and clothes. Sure, Ramen Ichiraku was an iconic spot in the main series, but my life wasn't an anime series and I needed money to focus on more important matters.

But that didn't mean I never wanted to try Ramen Ichiraku.

"You know about that place too? I slide by their every once in a while when I'm looking for something quick to eat and they have some fantastic ramen!"

"I know about the place, but I've never eaten there before," I confessed.

Dan's eyes lit up as he grabbed me and waved his hand towards the door, "Then onwards! Let's celebrate by eating some delicious ramen!"

* * *

The group stopped in front of a small building with several banners that spelled out the kanji for "Ramen Ichiraku." The building looked much newer than it did in the anime, with shiny brown paint and colorful banners. My excitable teacher placed me gently onto the ground and lifted up one of the banners so we could enter the shop, "And here we are! Ramen Ichiraku!"

I was instantly hit with a wave of familiarity as the scenes from the Naruto anime came back to me. The shop was filled with people as it was lunch hours. As I took a seat and looked around, I saw a familiar patron sitting in one of the bar seats by herself. She was eating a bowl of ramen at a rapid pace and had a small stack of bowls in front of her. But what stood out about her was her bright, crimson hair. She didn't even notice that several other people had walked into the shop and continued to eat her ramen with gusto. I wanted to call out to her, but technically, we were still strangers. As I and the others sat down onto the stools, I made sure to sit in the seat closest to where Kushina was sitting.

A young man walked out of the kitchen and gave each of us a menu with a smile, "Welcome to Ramen Ichiraku! My name is Teuchi. What can I get for you today?"

Teuchi looked like he had just graduated from high school and had a very slim build. It was odd to see someone so young run their own restaurant, but seeing that the restaurant was busy, I didn't question his abilities. I took a few moments to look through the menu, which was filled with the typical ramens I often saw in ramen shops back on Earth. But I was going to withhold my judgment until I actually ate the ramen.

"I'll get a Shoyu ramen with extra chashu pork," Dan announced as he handed the menu back to Teuchi.

"Miso Ramen with extra soup for me!" Mikoto sang.

Shikaku scratched his head and sighed, "I'll get the same thing as her."

Finally, Teuchi turned towards me and I peeked at what Kushina was eating. I did know a few things about ramen and knew how to differentiate some of them based on the soup. The soup of the ramen that Kushina was eating had a cloudy appearance, so I deduced that it was a Tonkotsu ramen, "I'll have the Tonkotsu ramen with extra noodles and extra bean sprouts."

"I'll have those out right away!" Teuchi went straight to work after taking our orders.

Kushina finally peeped up from her ramen upon hearing "Tonkotsu ramen" and looked at me. Her eyes met mine and her face turned into a scowl, "What, ya going to make fun of mah hair too, _dattebane_?"

I blinked in surprise, but then I realized that she must have attended the Academy while I was in the hospital and was bullied like in the original series. I thought that the entire backstory was stupid, but I wasn't going to sit around and let a girl lose her confidence because she was bullied for being different. Hell, _I _was different but I wasn't bullied or treated weirdly. I threw up my hands defensively and shook my head, "No, I think your hair looks great! I think it's really pretty."

It looked like I caught her unexpected as her chopsticks dropped onto the counter, "You mean, you _like_ my red tomato hair?"

I snorted, "Shouldn't you like it too? It's so unique and nice. I don't see why you would think I would hate it."

The red-head looked so much in shock, that Teuchi strutted over to her and tapped her on the shoulder, "Kushina, are you ok? Was there something in the ramen that you didn't like?"

She swallowed hard and shook her head, "No, I'm fine, Teuchi-san."

Teuchi looked at her worriedly before running off to finish up the ramens he was cooking. The entire time, Kushina was staring at me like I had grown a third head, "So you _don't_ hate my hair."

"I don't."

"And what about my weird accent when I'm angry or that I say "_dattebane_?"

I mean, was it _that_ weird for someone to have a unique word or phrase that they used often? I mean, I often said "lmao" at the end of sentences when I was still back on Earth and no one really picked on me for that. "No, not really. I mean, everyone says somethings out of habit often, right? Like my friend Shikaku over there. He says "Troublesome" whenever he has the chance to do so."

Shikaku was reading a book silently while Mikoto and Dan were chatting between themselves. When Shikaku heard his name mentioned, he looked up and saw me waving at him. He muttered his usual "Troublesome" before going back to his book.

"See? It's not weird," I said with a shrug.

Kushina finally managed to change her expression and broke out into a wide grin, "I'm Kushina, nice to meet you _dattebane_! Let's be friends!"

Her grin was infectious and I found myself grinning like an idiot, "My name is Hiro and I would be glad to be your friend. Let me introduce you to my other friends as well. That blue-haired guy is Dan, he's our instructor. That girl over there is Mikoto, and I just told you that guy's name, but he's Shikaku."

All of them turned upon hearing their name and waved at the person I was talking to. Kushina's mouth fell open but her grin returned and she stood up to shake hands with all of them.

"Thank you for waiting! Here are your ramens!" Teuchi announced as Kushina and Mikoto chatted with each other. I moved aside to let them sit together and sat next to Dan. When the ramen arrived, I gazed at it and was not disappointed with what I saw.

The ramen bowl was large and filled with soup and noodles, topped with a ton of Chashu, menma, green onions, bean sprouts, seaweed, and egg. I eagerly dug into the ramen and finally understood why Naruto was so addicted to this place. The ramen was fantastic and put all the ramen places I visited on Earth to shame. As I hungrily ate my ramen, Kushina peeked over and saw what I was eating, "You're eating Tonkotsu ramen! That's my favorite!"

"Well, I saw that you ordered it, so I decided to give it a try. But I have to admit, this is great!" I admitted sheepishly.

She reached over and slapped me on the back, "I think we're going to be great friends!"

I grinned as I continued to eat. Not only did I get to eat great ramen, but I managed to lend Kushina a helping hand too.

While we were still eating, I discreetly gave some money to Teuchi to pay for Kushina's tab. As we finished and left the shop, Kushina hugged all of us and waved us goodbye.

* * *

Two weeks had passed since I re-encountered Kushina at Ramen Ichikaru and I was finally allowed to train once again. By then, Kushina joined our crew due to my invitation and trained with us regularly. Even though she clearly lagged behind Mikoto and Shikaku (and myself, but I was injured and unable to participate in the training), she enjoyed spending time with us and gave her best effort in each training.

Since today was my first day back, Dan went easy on us and let us off early from training. After he left, Mikoto also excused herself for her "clan heiress training," which Shikaku and I both knew meant Root training. As such, only Shikaku, Kushina, and I were in training ground fourteen. The three of us were lying on the ground peacefully and were staring at the clouds.

"You know, I think I can see why you enjoy this a lot," I stared into the sky calmly and enjoyed the quiet surroundings.

Shikaku only hummed in agreement as he closed his eyes. However, Kushina brought herself to a sitting position and looked at the two of us weirdly, "This is kinda boring, I think I'm going to train more."

I gave a horrified look and turned to Shikaku, who cracked open one eye to look at our red-haired friend. He closed his eyes after a peek and mumbled, "Troublesome" before laying still.

"I would join you, but I don't want to strain myself," I answered apologetically.

Kushina smiled understandingly and stuck out her hand for me to grab, "No problem! But I want to talk to you alone, Hiro."

I looked at her questioningly but grabbed her hand and pulled myself off the ground. Shikaku remained still as the two of us walked away from our resting spot and stopped next to the pond.

The young girl's dress fluttered from a slight breeze as she turned her back towards me, "It was you, wasn't it?"

"I was what?"

"The ninja that saved me."

"You mean the Anbu that protected you while you were coming to Konoha?" She told the group about her journey to Konoha and the Kiri shinobi's attack during one of our sessions, so I didn't need to feign complete ignorance about my mission.

The Uzumaki took a step back and turned, coming face to face with me. I never saw her frowning that much ever since I met her at Ramen Ichiraku, but she had a very prominent frown on her face as she spoke to me, "You don't need to lie to me, Hiro. I know it was you."

I scoffed and shook my head, "I'm an Academy student, Kushina. Maybe you're imagining things."

Kushina crossed her arms defiantly, "Nuh-uh. I know it was you _dattebane_! And I can prove it!"

She grabbed my right arm and pulled out a brush. When she brushed it, a strange symbol glowed on my forearm, "See! It _is_ you!"

"And that's supposed to prove what exactly?"

Kushina grinned as if she had just won the lottery, "It _proves _that you were the one that carried me and protected me during my trip to Konoha _dattebane_! I secretly slapped this Tracking Seal onto you when you were putting me on your shoulders. It doesn't reveal itself unless I use my special writing brush!"

I had _completely_ underestimated her and did not expect her to do something like this. I pulled my arm back in a panic and reduced the distance between the two of us until our torsos were almost touching, "Don't mention it to anyone, it's supposed to be a secret. If Anbu found out that you knew something like this, they might come after you."

She gulped nervously and nodded her head up and down, "I won't tell anyone, I promise. I just wanted to confirm if it was really you."

I sighed and sat down onto the ground, defeated. Kushina sat down next to me and tugged my sleeve, "I just wanted to say... thanks."

When I looked at her, her face was red as a tomato. Although I could see the resemblance between her and a tomato when she was embarrassed, I didn't dare to mention it out loud, "It was my job to protect you."

"No! Not only that," She mumbled as she refused to let go of my jacket sleeve, "You befriended me when no one else would and introduced me to your friends. And..."

"And?"

I didn't know her face could turn any redder, but it did, "And... _you said my hair was pretty dattebane._"

From looking at her embarrassed expression, I didn't know whether to laugh or tease her. So I did both, "But it _is_. And it's long too. I like girls with long hair better than girls with short hair."

"You do?" She suddenly looked up in surprise.

"Yeah, I do." That wasn't a lie. I _did_ prefer girls with long hair over short ones. And I preferred adults over children.

Like all sane adults.

She stammered incoherent sentences for a few seconds before fleeing the training ground, her face still bright red from our conversation. As I watched her flee, I let out a deep sigh and prayed that she didn't try to fangirl over me. It was already difficult keeping Mikoto at bay. The last thing I needed was Kushina to fawn over me and fight with Mikoto like the infamous Ino-Sakura rivalry.

When I returned to Shikaku, I tapped him gently on the head and grinned as he opened his eyes, "Hey Shikaku, do you mind if I go visit your house today?"

Shikaku groaned and swatted my finger away, "What for?"

"Just to hang out between you and me. We've never really hung out by ourselves before."

The Nara gazed at the sky for a second before answering, "Sure."

As the two of us chatted and walked away from the training ground, we had no idea that our relatively peaceful lives were about to come to an end.


	8. A Spark of Gold

_"There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others."_

_-Niccolo Machiavelli_

* * *

I landed in front of the obscure building that served as the headquarters of Anbu and Root in the middle of the night. Flanking me were two Root members, Deer and Sloth. Both of them were assigned to my team and we had just returned to Konoha from a mission. The mission was a regular patrol mission that our team carried out to ensure that the defenses and outposts on the borders were active and secured. Thankfully, this patrol mission was finished without any troubles and we returned to Konoha without a scratch on us.

I knocked on the door lightly and a voice whispered from the other side, "Yes?"

"The rainfall in Konoha is blocking out the moon"

The sky was completely clear, but the code phrase was a reference to Amegakure. For our recent mission, we patrolled the Ame-Konoha border as the Hidden Rain Village bordered two villages that were hostile to us.

"How heavy is the rain?"

"A light shower."

After I answered, the door opened quickly and we rushed inside to come face to face with the sentry, "Good work, Danzo-sama is expecting the three of you. Head to his office."

We all bowed politely and moved down numerous corridors and hallways to reach our destination. The headquarters was designed like a maze to slow down any hostile shinobi and confuse them. However, I knew the place like the back of my hand and with my team in tow, I arrived in front of Danzo's personal room.

I took a shallow breath and knocked steadily. A voice, presumably Danzo, called out to me, "Come in."

My team and I entered the room in an orderly fashion, standing shoulder to shoulder in front of Danzo's desk. Danzo's office was spartan and contained very little furniture or trophies, with the room only containing his desk and a set of battle armor hanging from the walls. The man in question was leaning forward on his desk with his hands folded in front of him. Upon seeing us, he gave us a ghastly smile, "Root Team One, what was the result of your mission?"

"A success, Danzo-sama," I replied on behalf of my team, "All the fourteen outposts were accounted for and we verified the identity of the shinobi stationed in every one of them. Additionally, the traps and the seals on the borders are fully active and functional."

"Good, as expected of my most successful and reliable team," Danzo nodded, "Now usually, I would allow you to take the rest of the week off from missions so that you may focus on your training and rest. Unfortunately, I have been alerted of a most urgent matter that I need your team to deal with."

The other two members of my team stiffened, while I also straightened my posture. An "urgent matter" usually entailed a dangerous or risky mission. The last time my team was assigned to an "urgent matter" mission, it turned out to be a rescue mission to save a genin team from Iwa infiltrators near the Ame border.

Danzo continued without hearing a response from me or the others, "As you know, the situation between Konoha and Iwa is worsening. Iwa is looking for any excuse to reignite the war and Suna is supposedly eager to join in on the fray. Due to this, our border with the Land of Rivers has been seeing a number of Suna scouts surveying our defenses. Usually, that would not be a problem as our forces stationed on the border can deal with them. But recently, we have received word that a very powerful shinobi has been wiping out several of our border patrols. A shinobi that uses _gold_ dust, to be exact."

I stirred internally as I realized that I _knew_ the identity of that person. That person was the future father of one of Naruto's best friends, but also a dangerous man that would even betray an alliance with the Leaf to strengthen his village.

Rasa.

Outwardly, I did not show any sign of recognizing the identity of the gold dust user and remained silent as Danzo spoke, "Therefore, in three days time, Team One of Root will be sent to the border between Konoha and Tani. Your mission will be to discover the identity of this individual and subdue him _if possible_. I have been told that even one of our jonin teams has been bested by him, so you are not required to defeat him. Gather as much intelligence about him as you can and withdraw back to Konoha once you have sufficient information about his techniques, jutsu, and motive for the attacks."

"Do we have any names or information about this man, other than his gold dust Danzo-sama?" I asked neutrally.

"No. It seems as though Suna has kept this shinobi a well-kept secret from us. The only reason why we know he uses gold dust is because we recovered the gold dust from the dead bodies the shinobi left behind. This is a B-rank mission and you will receive further information shortly before the mission begins. I expect the three of you to prepare accordingly until then. For now, dismissed."

With that, we bowed to the head of Root and proceeded to leave. However, before I stepped out of the room, Danzo called me back into the office, "Dog, stay behind for a moment."

My two teammates looked at me worriedly, but I whispered for them to wait for me outside. As they left the room, I walked towards the Anbu head's desk and folded my hands behind my back, "You called for me, Danzo-sama?"

Danzo maintained a neutral expression as he stared into my mask, "You have done an excellent job since your promotion to captain, Dog."

"I am merely carrying out my duties as a shinobi of the Leaf, Danzo-sama."I knew how to play Danzo's game. While he wasn't an egomaniac (or wasn't based on what I saw) and was fairly reasonable, he was still _very_ loyal to the village and worked tirelessly to keep it safe. He hated arrogant shinobi and preferred shinobi that were humble and loyal.

"Good. You are very close to entering Anbu itself, due to your excellent performance and skills. Usually, I would have assigned this mission to a more senior Anbu team, but most of them are preoccupied with other missions outside the village and I believe your team is capable enough to carry out this mission."

I nodded understandingly. The Anbu/Root headquarters was fairly empty these days, as most of the Anbu and Root teams were carrying out missions elsewhere. Konoha had a long, continuous border with many villages and because of this, the Konoha shinobi forces itself was overextended to protect the Land of Fire from intruders. It didn't help that most of the villages were hostile, or lukewarm at best towards Konoha.

"Therefore, I believe it is now the appropriate time for you to receive this," Danzo pulled out a scroll from his desk and handed it to me, "You have been in Root for nearly a year now and carried out over a dozen successful missions. I believe this is sufficient for a reward. A _bonus_, if you will."

I accepted the scroll graciously, but I peered at the door as I received it, "What about my teammates, Danzo-sama?"

"Who says that they have not received their own rewards either?" Danzo replied with a small smirk, "Know this. I reward _all _those that serve Konoha faithfully. I do not play favorites, nor do I attempt to weaken those in our shinobi forces. Our village can only stand proudly if all our shinobi are powerful enough to match _any enemy_ shinobi."

With that, he waved dismissively and I walked out of the headquarters with the scroll in my hand. I hopped over several nearby buildings before finally coming to a stop to the roof of a nearby grocery store. My two teammates were waiting for me on the roof patiently and they waved at me as I arrived.

Mikoto, also known as "Deer," pointed to the scroll, "What's that?"

"Not out in the open. Let's go back to my apartment," I answered.

The three of us ran quickly to the Uchiha Compound and entered my apartment through the window. Once we were inside and I closed the curtain as a safety precaution, we all took off our masks and began to take off our shinobi equipment in the living room.

"So, Danzo-sama gave you a scroll too?" Shikaku, "Sloth," said as he took off his mask. His Root training slipped into his speech, as we were all used to calling Danzo "Danzo-sama" whenever we saw him. Our forms of speech were a bit stiffer too, due to the constant need to remain "professional" during missions.

"Yeah, and he said both of you got them too?" I raised an eyebrow at both of them.

The two of them whistled and pretended to be ignorant about the subject as they excused themselves to change. The apartment had a bedroom, a study room, a spacious living room, a moderate-sized kitchen, and a simple bathroom. It was large and comfortable. Since it was almost always available, my place of residence was a rendezvous point for our team and both Mikoto and Shikaku left their stuff behind in my apartment whenever we left on missions.

It had been over a year since my first mission with Root and I was much more skilled than before. While I couldn't' call myself a perfect leader, I was good at reading the situation and efficient in terms of finishing my missions. Of course, I made sure to value my life as much as I valued the life of my comrades, avoiding any unnecessary suicidal risks. Shikaku was officially added to my team after I became a Root captain, a rank I obtained nearly half a year after my showdown against the Mud Release user.

We were all ten years old, but our skills were at least that of an experienced chunin. Our days were hectic, but we put them to good use. On weekday mornings, we would go to the Academy and attend classes like ordinary students. We held back while we were at the Academy but still maintained the top ranks consistently. There were other notably talented students, such as Minato, but none of them (at least to my knowledge) had the same type of training and experience as us. And while we were way ahead of the Academy's curriculum, the classes were good for refreshing our memories on various topics and subjects. The days we were missing were excused as "extracurricular activities" involving our respective clans, with my excuse being private training with the Uchiha clan.

During the afternoon, we were training with either Dan, by ourselves, or with Root. Dan dipped out of Konoha for missions more consistently as the tensions rose between the Great Villages, but he made sure to make his time with us worthwhile when he was in the village. We learned the _Shunshin _(Body Flicker Jutsu) from him, along with additional elemental jutsu (or in my case, helping me learn some weaker _Katon_ [Fire] jutsu). He also worked on our taijutsu closely and continuously drilled us with chakra control exercises.

With Root, we usually trained the same thing as Dan did, but went a step further. I was actually taught more _Raiton_ (Lightning) jutsu and worked tirelessly on my taijutsu and speed. My taijutsu form was finally somewhat complete and was a mix of Muay Thai and Taekwondo. The form was defensive, yet utilized all points on my body to go on the offensive relentlessly.

I never really trained with Mikoto's father, as he was busy with his duties as a clan head, but he did occasionally call me over to inspect my progress and give me tips to improve my abilities.

"You're still going to have to tell me about the scroll, so might as well come out now and fess up!" I said loudly enough for them to hear. I had a few neighbors, but most of them were civilians or older shinobi. Apparently, being given a sponsorship by the Uchiha clan was a big deal and rarely any shinobi, never mind children, were given sponsorships by the clan.

My two close friends/teammates stepped back into the living room dressed in their usual everyday attire. As the Nara heir spoke, he slumped into my sofa while Mikoto leaned on the kitchen counter, "You don't need to be so troublesome... He gave me the scroll before we left for our mission a week ago. He said to avoid using it except in missions, but I haven't really needed it during any of our missions so..."

I understood immediately, "What's in the scroll?"

"It's probably different for each of us, so you should open up yours to find out what's inside of yours."

Shikaku yawned and closed his eyes, but I knew that he was also interested in what was inside of my scroll. Despite his eyes being closed, he kept his ears perked and leaned towards me. Mikoto also noticed and grinned, "We'll share what was in our scrolls after you share yours. We're not going to keep it a secret from you, Hiro. It's just... better not to reveal our cards early, right?"

I mockingly sighed at her words, "Mikoto, lecturing me about how to be a proper shinobi? I must be dreaming."

Mikoto playfully tossed her weapons pouch at me as I opened up my scroll. The scroll contained only a few lines of writing, but they were extremely interesting to read. The text within the scrolled was the instructions to perform a B-class _Raiton_ (Lightning) jutsu. The jutsu, called _Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Pure Lightning Kunai Technique), _was a rather advanced jutsu worthy of its B-rank. In order to carry out this jutsu, the user needed to _create_ kunai out of the lightning chakra itself. The jutsu required high levels of chakra control to manipulate the lightning chakra into a shape similar to that of a kunai. The lightning kunai was able to cut objects just as effective as a kunai, was able to be thrown like a real kunai, and was also able to _melt_ metals due to its extremely high temperature. It also induced electrical shocks to anyone that was struck by it.

Unknowingly, Danzo gave me a crucial first step towards building the Chidori: manipulating chakra directly in my hands and forming a certain shape with it.

Part of me believed that Danzo gave me this jutsu just before the next mission so that I could _somehow_ utilize it against Rasa. The part about the lightning kunai being able to melt metals was definitely a giveaway, as our opponent utilized _gold _dust. I was definitely thankful that I had another jutsu to my arsenal in case our mission turned awry. At the same time, I cursed the man for withholding information about the jutsu until the last minute.

Of course, there were probably reasons why Danzo gave me the jutsu now instead of before. It _was_ a very complicated and complex jutsu, one of the first steps in _creating_ powerful elemental jutsu such as the Chidori. The Chidori was difficult to replicate and I expected this jutsu, which I saw as a precursor to the famous assassination technique, was difficult to learn as well.

But for the moment, my enthusiasm to learn the jutsu took over my mind.

Eagerly, I tried to follow the steps and produce a lightning kunai in my hand directly. My hand crackled with electricity and then _exploded_ in a loud bang. Miraculously, I was unhurt, but it seemed like in my excitement, I focused _too much_ chakra into my right hand.

Mikoto slapped me in the back of the head, "Test it at the training area tomorrow, not here! I don't want to explain to father that you destroyed the apartment because you tried a new, dangerous jutsu in it!"

"Troublesome..." Shikaku scratched his head, "Well before Hiro blows up the apartment, might as well show you what I got."

He pulled out a set of strings and a scroll. When Mikoto and I stared at him expectingly, he sighed and explained, "Indestructible ninja wire, made from some chakra threads from Kiri. It's for me to expand the range of my Shadow Possession jutsu during fights. As for the scroll... there's an advanced Earth jutsu inside. It's a defensive jutsu that can buy me time so that I can use my Shadow Possession jutsu while I'm under attack."

The Uchiha heiress smiled broadly and motioned for Shikaku to move out of the way, "As for me, I got these!"

She held up a pair of brass knuckles. The brass knuckles were as black as night and seemed to heat up as Mikoto brandished them, "Brass knuckles made of chara steel! If I channel a bit of chakra into them, they heat up a lot and I can punch my way through anything! I was thinking of testing them out tomorrow at the training ground. Maybe I'll try it on a tree first then test them during a spar..."

Mikoto grinned at me and Shikaku wickedly. Both of us paled at the sight and we found ourselves rooted to the floor. Before I could move, Shikaku rapidly packed up his stuff and moved towards the window, "I'll see you the two of you in class tomorrow then."

Immediately after he fled, Mikoto came up to me with a grin, "So, we'll be going on a trip together in three days then."

"Yep, a trip to find a deadly shinobi."

"You're too stiff, Hiro. As long as we're careful and stay together, we'll be fine. After all, you, me, and Shikaku are the ultimate team!" The black-haired girl hugged me for some time before detaching herself, "I'll see you tomorrow! Get ready to spar after class!"

After the girl left, I stripped off my clothes and went to sleep in my nightwear. I had much to prepare for.

* * *

I was the first one at the training ground after classes ended at the Academy. While I waited for the others, I tested the _Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu _quietly by myself. As I was practicing summoning visible chakra to my fingers, a hand slapped me in the back and made me flinch, "Whatcha doing Hiro?"

I didn't turn around as I knew who the voice belonged to, "Nothing much, Kushina. Just trying out a new jutsu that I received."

Kushina was still the same as ever, wearing her usual green dress, but with black leggings to cover her legs. Her hair was tied neatly into a ponytail and was now at waist length, as she refused to cut them any shorter. She looked much happier and brighter than when I first met her in Konoha and she had quickly joined our friend group without any difficulties.

Like my other friends, she was extremely hard working and naturally talented in the shinobi arts. Her taijutsu was similar to that of Mikoto, but she was far more aggressive when fighting and packed a harder punch. Her natural affinity was water, and while her ninjutsu lagged behind ours, Kushina's ninjutsu was fairly advanced compared to other kids her age as she received supplemental training in Uzu.

The Uzumaki wasn't a seal master or wasn't a seal master yet. But she was definitely well versed in fuinjutsu and was considered a Rank Five fuinjutsu practitioner by Uzu. There were twelve ranks in total and Rank Five was considered an intermediate level. The red-haired girl was able to write out all the basic seals, such as the Explosive Tag, and slightly more advanced ones as well. She was also able to identify more advanced seals but was unable to write them out perfectly for them to work.

I handed her a scroll and explained to her the basis of the jutsu. After reading a few sentences, Kushina scrunched up her eyebrows and sighed, "I can read seals and information about seals forever, but if I try to read anything else, I get bored instantly."

I laughed silently into my sleeve as she glared at me. The girl pouted and looked away, but turned her focus back to the scroll, "Where did you get this?"

"From work."

Kushina lowered her voice and inched closer to me, "When's your next mission?"

Technically, I wasn't allowed to reveal any information about my missions, but I usually warned her when I was leaving for them, "In two days. I don't know how long it'll take."

Kushina bit her lips and muttered under her breath, "I wish I could go with all of you too..."

I patted her head out of sympathy, "You're probably strong enough to join too, but you just recently came to Konoha from Uzu..."

"So I'm a foreigner and not trusted, yeah yeah," Kushina crossed her arms defiantly.

Before the conversation continued, my two other friends arrived in the training area. Mikoto glared at my hand, which was still patting Kushina's head and smiled coldly at me and Kushina, "Well, the two of you are here early."

"You did say you wanted to spar after class ended, so I rushed here to warm up," I replied weakly.

"Ah, so that's warming up then?" The Uchiha heiress pointed at my hand accusingly. I quickly lowered my hand from Kushina's hand, earning a frown from the redhead.

"He was just showing me his new jutsu, _Mikoto_," Kushina said as she placed her left arm in front of me.

Shikaku sighed and stepped in between all of us, stretching out his arms to block us from fighting, "Troublesome..."

The tension died down a bit after we settled in and Mikoto declared that she wanted to spar with Kushina. The two of them were good friends, but around me, their relationship became a bit _frosty_. They were never overtly hostile to each other, but both of them were a bit _possessive_ over me when I was around, which always unsettled me. This was especially evident after missions, where Kushina always acted a _bit_ more aggressive after not seeing me for some time.

While they sparred between themselves to cool off, I tested out my new jutsu with Shikaku. The instructions stated that I relaxed and focused my chakra directly into my hands, and then transferred them to my fingertips, as the instructions stated. The instructions also stated that I needed good chakra control, which I knew I had, so I sat next to one of the trees in the training area and tried to carry out the jutsu calmly.

Recalling Dan's lessons about balancing the physical and spiritual energies evenly, I focused on flowing my chakra into my hands intently. While I focused on forming the jutsu, I also made sure to take it slow and not rush the process. I slowly felt my chakra willing itself into electricity, a familiar feeling that I felt when using Lightning jutsu.

A natural affinity to a certain element meant it was easier to transform chakra into the element. This is why it was recommended for a shinobi to wait until he was a chunin rank to learn another element. Learning a new element required consistent and constant use of the element with bigger chakra drawbacks. Chakra was like a very complex muscle; a person's chakra reserve grew bigger with more constant use. The same could be said with chakra and elemental jutsu. If a shinobi constantly used their natural element, they were able to use that said element faster and with less chakra. Comparatively speaking, a genin fresh out of the Academy with a Lightning affinity would use more chakra and would have a slower time using a D-rank _Raiton_ jutsu than a jonin would a Lightning affinity that had countless hours of practice.

In order to learn a new one, a shinobi had to manipulate their chakra into an element unfamiliar to their chakra system, which resulted in greater amounts of chakra used for even basic non-natural elemental jutsu. I wasn't an exception, as using and practicing _Katon _(Fire) jutsu wore me out rather quickly.

But for _Raiton jutsu?_ I used _Raiton_ jutsu constantly and knew how to control it fairly well. The process came naturally to me now and I utilized my natural affinity fully during spars and battles. Even so, morphing lightning directly into my hand and making sure it retained a certain shape was difficult.

Slowly, I felt lightning materialize out of my fingertips and into my hands. The instructions warned that placing too much chakra into this jutsu would result in failure, as I found out the hard way back in my apartment. After a few moments, I felt like I had enough chakra in my hands and slowly halted the flow of chakra to a trickle, maintaining just enough chakra flow to maintain the current amount. Afterward, I focused on forming it into the shape of a kunai.

After several frustrating minutes, I barely managed to form the lightning chakra into something that resembled a lopsided blade. The shape looked somewhat like a weapon, but when I tried to grip the "completed" jutsu, it crackled in my hand and faded away.

I groaned as I realized that I had neglected to maintain the constant trickle of chakra needed to keep the form of the jutsu. Shikaku, who was watching the entire affair, patted me on the back reassuringly, "It's a B-rank jutsu for a reason, Hiro. You'll get it eventually."

"Thanks, but I think I might need this for the mission."

"You figured it out too?" Shikaku slumped against a tree and placed his hands behind his head.

I nodded. When I thought about the things that my team and I were given, I realized that they enhanced our strengths and were tooled to fight against Rasa. My _Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu _was hot enough to melt through metals, including gold. Mikoto's brass knuckles were made of chakra steel, which meant that Mikoto was able to flow her chakra into the blades much more easily than ordinary steel. This meant that she could use the brass knuckles for extended periods of time and utilize her natural affinity through them. While her _Katon_ jutsu were unable to melt through metals like gold and required a sizeable, constant amount of chakra, the brass knuckles allowed her to utilize her strength in taijutsu with her elemental chakra acting as a boost. As for Shikaku, the ninja wire was able to increase his range significantly, useful for engaging a powerful shinobi from afar, and a _Doton_ (Earth) jutsu to act as a shield.

Shikaku saw me deep in thought and interjected, "Maybe he wanted us to be prepared for anything for this mission. He's a fairly reasonable leader and knows the risks involved."

"Possibly, but he might be encouraging us to engage him and apprehend him by strengthening us."

The Nara heir was unaware of Danzo's history (or future?) and regarded the man as a respectable leader. As for me, well, I had insight and was on guard around the man. While he wasn't batshit insane at this time, Danzo kept me on my toes and I was constantly wary of the man's intentions.

While Shikaku walked away to get started on his own practice, I continued practicing the new jutsu for another hour. I finally managed to get some semblance of control over the jutsu, but I was still some time away from being able to use it in combat.

As I sat on the ground and took a break from training, Kushina and Mikoto walked over to my resting place after they finished up their spar. I eyed them nervously as they sat down next to me, with Kushina to my right and Mikoto to my left. Both of them looked battered but had huge smiles on their faces.

"I managed to beat her in one of the spars!" Kushina said gleefully.

Mikoto snorted, "Yeah, but I managed to beat you every other time."

The Uzumaki stood up and pumped her chest, "Next time, I'll beat you _two_ times _dattebane_!"

I rolled my eyes at their boast competition, "It's not a contest guys. We're training to get better, remember?"

"Yeah, better than her!" Mikoto and Kushina both pointed at each other at the same time. After seeing the ridiculousness of the situation, they both started laughing together.

I smiled at their interaction and hopped back onto my feet to train again. The mission was coming up soon, and I had to be ready.

* * *

"You ready for the mission tomorrow?"

"The new jutsu I'm working on is... passable in an emergency," I shrugged as I took another piece of venison from the grill, "And I'm a bit more nervous than usual."

Shikaku chewed his food slowly and swallowed, "Can't be helped, especially since it involves a high-rank shinobi."

The two of us were eating lunch at the Nara estate by ourselves. Mikoto was receiving some extra training from her father and Shikaku's mother was out on a mission. As a result, we had the entire house to ourselves and we were enjoying some venison that was from the Nara clan's deer farms. I never tried venison during my time on Earth, but I found the firm and smooth feeling of the deer meat satisfying.

Once a week, the two of us shared a meal together alone to hang out and talk. Surprisingly, the Nara was more talkative when Mikoto wasn't around and was more receptive to my conversations during our "hang out" time.

Since the mission was tomorrow, we decided to enjoy some food and train together. Shikaku wasn't as physically capable as I was, but his keen insight helped me improve everything from my ninjutsu to taijutsu. In turn, I helped Shikaku improve his physical strength and acted as his test dummy for his Shadow Possession jutsu.

"I don't know, I just feel like something is going to go wrong," I admitted.

"I'm worried too and I wished we had more time to train, but we've prepared ourselves for the worst."

I picked at my food and nibbled on some rice, "It's just... he hasn't really given us many specific details about the mission. Like how are we going to approach our target and evaluate him?"

The Nara heir was silent as he placed a few more pieces of raw venison on the grill. We watched the grill wordlessly for a few moments before Shikaku finally spoke up, "I don't know, but I hope it's not what I'm thinking."

I sincerely hoped it wasn't what I was thinking either.

* * *

"You know the drill now," Rabbit handed over three scrolls to us without hesitation, "Do your best and come back safely. The last thing I want to do is train another recruit."

Rabbit went back to his usual self after our conversation in the hospital. That conversation in the hospital after my first mission was the only time I saw Rabbit wear his hearts on his sleeve. Afterward, he returned to his usual, harsh self. Even so, I was reassured that Rabbit did care for me, though he never admitted that out loud.

Once we grabbed the scrolls from him, he gave me a small pat on my shoulder and disappeared.

I opened the scroll cautiously and read the content within. The details of the mission were outlined in the scroll and I internally let out a sigh of relief. I _almost_ believed that Danzo would use another Konoha shinobi team as bait to draw Rasa in, but thankfully that wasn't the case. Instead, we were to report to a Konoha jonin on the border and follow his lead to observe Rasa from a distance. I guessed that Danzo believed a single jonin would perish against Rasa instantly and opted for us to back him up just in case anything happened.

That still didn't rid the weight in my stomach. I felt like something was going to happen during this mission, and my gut feeling was saying it wasn't going to be a good thing.

Our group made its way west towards the border between Konoha and Tani. The journey took just a little over a day since the western border with Tani was much closer to Konoha itself than the eastern border with Uzu. We arrived at our designated meeting point early morning and while we waited, we took some time to train and prepare for the mission ahead of us.

For me, I mainly practiced the _Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Pure Lightning Kunai Technique)_. Even with two days of relentless training, I had barely managed to form a small blade that I was able to sustain for five seconds. The level of chakra control needed to maintain the jutsu was incredibly high, even for my standards, and unfortunately, I only had two full days of practice before I was sent on this mission. Even so, I didn't specifically blame Danzo, since the mission was an urgent one and he did give me the jutsu "to be nice."

Unless he planned this out to test the speed of our growth.

After waiting for a few more hours, a single shinobi arrived at our designated spot. He remained in the shadows of a tree, but I managed to make out a Konoha headband on his forehead. I pulled out my kunai silently and edged away from the shinobi, "How much is the price of gold in Konoha?"

"About six ryos."

I relaxed slightly as I was given the right response. The "gold" was an obvious reference to our mission target and the "six ryos" was a reference to the six teams that were wiped out by the gold dust user so far, "We're ready for the mission."

"That's good because I feel like I'll need your team's help for this mission," The man emerged from the shadows and smiled, "Let's get going, shall we?"

White hair tied into a ponytail, a kind face, and an extremely tall stature even for a shinobi. I was _pretty damn sure_ I knew who this person was.

"Before we get going, may I get your name?"

"Hatake Sakumo, jonin."

"It's an honor to work with you, Hatake-san."

The white-haired shinobi smiled, "You flatter me, but let's get moving. After all, we have a mission to complete."

I nodded my head and followed the shinobi as he moved from tree to tree. I felt reassured the man was a capable shinobi if the canon series was anything to go by. He was famous in Konoha even now and was well regarded by the shinobi forces, even in Anbu and Root. However, I felt even more pressured than before to make sure the man remained alive. I recalled Kakashi and remembered how Sakumo's death affected him. It was entirely possible that this mission was the mission that resulted in Sakumo's demise, so I was on guard more than ever. I made a mental reminder to try and stay safe so that Sakumo didn't try to save me if I was in trouble and abandon the mission.

After traveling for about an hour, our group stopped in a wooded area that was near a large river. The river denoted the border between Tani and Konoha and there were two Konoha outposts nearby. This specific spot was a small gap between the outposts and usually had a patrol team roam nearby. Our group remained hidden while the jonin explained his plan, "I'm going to make three Shadow Clones act like the patrol team that was supposed to come by this area today. The gold dust user hits the patrol team in this area regularly, so he should make an appearance. If he does not appear today, then we will remain camped nearby and try it again tomorrow. The goal is to avoid incursion into the Land of the Rivers and draw him out to see his abilities. I will be able to see his abilities through the memories of my clones, but Once he does, we will assess his skills and make our way back to Konoha as fast as possible."

"What if he doesn't make an appearance at all?" Shikaku asked.

Sakumo grimaced, "Then we will need to resort to more aggressive actions, but let us hope it does not come to that."

I frowned deeply behind my mask and spoke up, "If you can see the memories of your clones and watch from afar alone, then is there a reason for us to be here."

The jonin gave us a weak smile, "At an absolute max, I can make four Shadow Clones. Making three will tire me out instantly and I will be unable to fight our target if he comes after me. Even with soldier pills, I will be unable to fight our target for long, if the reports about the target are accurate. Therefore, you three are here to evaluate alongside me and return to Konoha with information about the target should I fall. If he does come after us, I will hold him off as long as I can so you can flee safely."

It was easy to forget that the Shadow Clone jutsu drained the user's chakra reserves considerably, especially since Naruto spammed them in the main series. Even for an experienced jonin like Sakumo, the Shadow Clone jutsu was not something that could be used freely.

But what bothered me was his willingness to sacrifice himself so he can save us. It was a mistake that I made once and I didn't want anyone else to make the same mistake. I knew the man meant well, as he wanted to ensure our safety even though we had just met, but it didn't sit well with me. Especially since he had a child, or a potential child, waiting for him at home.

"We won't abandon you," Mikoto interjected, glancing at me for a moment before turning her attention back to the jonin. It was the first time she spoke during the entire mission, which was unusual since she usually tried to strike up a small conversation with me or Shikaku, "We'll make sure you return to Konoha safely."

The white-haired shinobi looked surprised but hesitantly nodded, "I'll make sure not to drag you all down then."

Three clouds of smoke appeared next to Sakumo and they all transformed into three plain-looking Konoha shinobi. They moved as a unit towards the river and patrolled the area like a normal patrol team. We waited in silence for several hours and only moved to keep the "patrol team" in our sights. During that time, we remained hidden in the nearby trees and watched our surroundings carefully. Strangely, during our wait, I had to snap Mikoto back to attention several times as her thoughts seemed to have been elsewhere. Occasionally, she looked mentally unfocused and looked to the distance distractedly.

When the sun fell, the clones hid and popped out of existence. Our wait was for naught.

"Well, it looks like he didn't take the bait today. I guess we'll have to wait till tomorrow to try again," Sakumo rubbed the back of his head, "It'll be harder to collect information about him while he's fighting in the dark, so we'll rest for the night and try again at dawn."

The four of us traveled some distance away from the border and made camp in a clearing near a town. The town had a sizeable garrison of shinobi forces within and was a place for communications between units on the border.

Sakumo went to town by himself in order to see if there were any sightings of the gold dust user on other parts of the border. While we waited for him, we set up a few camouflage nets and sleeping bags in the trees to retire for the night. We made sure to not start any fires to avoid being detected and ate a few ration bars in silence.

Shikaku went to sleep first or at least pretended to "sleep" first. Sometimes, I couldn't tell the difference due to his usual antics and behavior, but I was sure he was sleeping as he laid in the trees unmoving.

Meanwhile, Mikoto was training near our camp by herself. During the entire mission, she looked much tenser and quieter than usual, and I suspected that something was wrong. I decided to talk to her and walked over to where she was practicing. I made sure that no one else was around before talking to her, "Are you ok?"

"We're on a mission, Dog," She muttered under her breath as she struck a tree with her brass knuckles with brute force. When she removed her fists, I could see a large, glowing indent in the tree trunk.

"I'm talking to you as a mission leader, Deer. If you're not focused on the mission, then you might compromise us."

She sighed and punched the poor tree once again, "It's just... private matters. I'm fine, but thanks for checking up on me."

I knew she was _not_ fine but decided not to press her on it, "We'll talk about it when we get back to the village. You don't have to shoulder everything alone, I'm here for you, and so is Sloth."

Mikoto stopped punching the tree and put away her brass knuckles, "Thanks. I'll make sure I'm focused, I promise. Stay safe during night watch"

The Uchiha heiress looked a bit more relaxed as she walked away from the tree, but I could tell she was still stressed as she walked up a tree and slipped into her sleeping bag. My eyebrows pressed together as I stared at the charred wood of the tree trunk and then back at Mikoto. I silently cursed myself as I realized that what I said sounded insensitive and made it seem like the mission was more important than her. But she didn't look like she wanted to talk at the moment, so I left her alone to dwell on her thoughts. The last thing I wanted was to start a fight or get into an argument during a mission. And while Mikoto was a close friend, I knew that she was fiercely independent and didn't need reassurance from me every minute.

I settled down and practiced my new jutsu while keeping an eye around camp. As usual, I was the first one to guard camp during the night and took the chance to practice a bit. The jutsu was still unrefined and I wanted to improve on my new jutsu to the best of my abilities, just in case we had to fight Rasa. I made sure to practice the jutsu near a tree and under a camouflage net, both to hide the jutsu as much as possible from wandering eyes and to avoid drawing any hostile shinobi to our location.

"_Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu_, eh?"

The jutsu in my hand nearly exploded as I quickly turned towards the source of the voice with a kunai in my hand. Even in the darkness of the night, I could make out Sakumo standing directly next to me. He stopped my strike and smiled patronizingly, "Six ryos."

He let go of my hand cautiously and allowed me to gather myself before speaking once again, "How long have you been practicing that jutsu?"

"Approximately three days now," I answered.

The jonin looked surprised for a moment before laughing, "You must either be very talented or have a good teacher. That jutsu is not an easy one to learn and even a jonin with a Lightning affinity can take up to a month to learn the jutsu. Yet from what I saw just now, your Lightning Kunai is about halfway to completion."

I blinked confusedly, "It can take up to a month to learn the jutsu?"

Sakumo grinned, "The jutsu is difficult to learn because the user must constantly remain focused on the jutsu in order to use it. One wrong burst of chakra or a simple slip of concentration will result in the jutsu dissipating or exploding. But the problem is, it's hard to focus on it during a battle and even in practice. The jutsu requires a very fine balance of chakra control and chakra output, after all."

"You sound extremely knowledgeable about this, Hatake-san."

"It's because my natural affinity if Lightning," As if to prove his point, the man used the _Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu _in front of me without any difficulties. I stared as the lightning formed into a shape of a kunai and remained stable in his hand, "It took me approximately a week of constant practice to learn the jutsu, so don't feel discouraged because you're not getting the jutsu down right away."

Internally, I was conflicted. The man was clearly a skilled Lightning user and a powerful jonin to boot. While I already had Dan and Rabbit to help me out with my overall abilities, I didn't have anyone that was able to teach me _Raiton_ jutsu. Lightning, like Wind, was fairly rare in Konoha and despite my best efforts, my search for a _Raiton_ teacher came up short. Additionally, I was motivated to get close to the man so he didn't die like in the original series.

Even so, I was on a mission and I didn't want to build a personal relationship with the man while wearing a mask.

Sakumo seemingly was able to see through me and smiled warmly, "I can help you practice that jutsu if you would like."

"I apologize for troubling you, Hatake-san," I said with a bow.

He shook his head reassuringly, "It's fine. After all, it is rare to see a Konoha shinobi with a Lightning affinity and it's always my pleasure to help out any of my fellow shinobi in need."

I worked with him for several hours and when Shikaku woke up to replace me as the night watch, I fell asleep immediately.

* * *

"I sense someone coming," Sakumo muttered, "He seems to be closing in on the patrol team."

The man looked tired and weary, but remained on his feet and looked towards the decoys instinctively. It had been only several minutes since Sakumo sent out his clones, yet it seemed like our target was finally making an appearance.

Mikoto activated her Sharingan under her mask and confirmed the jonin's words, "I managed to see the chakra signatures of three shinobi on the move towards the clones. They all have large chakra reserves, but one of them has much more chakra than the other two. They disappeared out of sight shortly after I spotted them."

"Then let us get ready," The jonin stated, "Our target is most likely the one with the biggest reserves, but keep an eye on all three of them. Remember the plan."

We moved silently on the branches and watched the clones from a distance. After a few minutes, the clones came to a stop on their own and we waited for the unknown ninjas to appear.

Suddenly, a stream of golden dust appeared towards the clones. The clones dodged them skillfully and jumped into the branches of nearby trees. As they did, three people, two men and a woman, appeared in our sights. All three of them had Suna headbands on their foreheads. The young man in the middle had reddish hair and a large pouch strapped to his waist. And from the looks of it, the gold dust was shooting out of his pouch.

"That's our target, now let's hope my clones are able to dodge him long enough for us to assess him."

The four of us watched silently as the three Suna shinobi barely moved from their spots, with Mikoto activating her Sharingan to make note of anything unusual during the engage. If anything, they seemed amused as Sakumo's clones barely dodged the torrent of gold attacking them. I noticed that the clones were extremely fast, as they always moved away from the gold dust attacks with ease. It was a testament to Sakumo's own speed and abilities, as the clones were copies of the user.

Finally, one of the clones yelled out to the group of Suna shinobi while under attack, "Why are you attacking us? We're not at war!"

"Pathetic, even as you are under attack, you refuse to fight back," The gold dust user replied, avoiding the question, "Don't worry, I'll put you down soon enough. At least you will not be alive to see your village fall."

Suddenly, more gold dust erupted from the ground and surrounded the clones. The gold dust formed a dome over the clones and the shinobi with reddish hair stretched his hands out, "_Jiton: Sakin Taiso (Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral)!_"

The dome collapsed and crushed anything within instantly. When the dust cleared, the clones were gone.

Sakumo flinched and stood up, "Let's go."

We obeyed his command immediately and ran back towards Konoha. However, several seconds after we left our hiding spot, a torrent of wind rushed by us.

I looked towards Mikoto uneasily, "Deer, can you check behind us to see if they are following us?"

Mikoto nodded and turned her head back towards the border. "We have incoming!"

On cue, a flurry of shurikens sped towards us at impossible speeds. I used a nearby branch to swing away from the shurikens. I planted my feet onto a nearby tree trunk after I dodged and watched for the attackers. My friends made similar maneuvers to dodge the incoming shurikens while Sakumo deflected the ones that were coming towards him.

The three Suna shinobi from before appeared in front of us and eyed us like prey. The man I was sure was named Rasa strutted forward. Wordlessly, he crossed his arms and gold dust _exploded_ out of his pouch. The gold dust shot towards each of us individually and I barely managed to dodge the strike aimed towards me.

"_Raiton: Raikou Kousen no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Beam Jutsu)_!"

A beam of electricity shot out of my hands and went straight towards the Suna group. Before it could reach them, a wall of gold dust blocked my attack, though I did see that the attack managed to melt through a bit of his gold dust. The gold dust user looked infuriated and the gold dust shot forward towards me once again.

As I jumped out of the way, the dust tracked my movement and grazed my left arm. The gold dust felt like a knife slashing against my skin and I gritted my teeth as blood leaked from my arm. The wound wasn't deep, but it felt like the gold dust was constantly grinding on my wound, worsening the pain.

The others were struggling just as much as I was against the waves of gold dust. I noticed that the amount of gold dust hitting each of us was reduced than the amount of gold dust that struck the individual clones previously. This most likely meant that Rasa had a limit for the amount of gold dust he could use during an engagement.

I summoned two Lightning clones with an average amount of chakra and had them move in sync with me towards the Suna team. It was at this moment Sakumo called out an order, "Formation Four!"

Formation Four was a pincer movement to strike the enemy from three sides. The person that called out the formation would act as the "spearhead" towards the enemy while the remaining members of the team struck from the sides. It was a standard Konoha formation and the numbers were rotated weekly. I assumed that Sakumo made the same assumption I did, as he called for a formation that attacked the enemy from multiple angles.

Mikoto and Shikaku moved as I pressed forward. I dispersed my clones to move some distance away from me, in order to split up the gold dust. My two teammates moved out of sight and into the trees to time their strikes. When Sakumo got close enough, we all converged on the Suna team at once, from six different points including my clones. The gold dust shot out towards us like before, but with the amount of gold dust we each faced was most definitely less than before.

One of my clones was struck by the gold dust and dissipated, but the other clone pressed forward with the others. I rapidly formed several hand seals and unleashed a jutsu. I was grazed on my waist this time, but I still shoved forward despite the pain, "_Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Bolt)!_"

I threw the sizeable lightning bolt towards Rasa and threw three Explosive Tags for good measure. My other teammates used their respective elemental jutsu as well while Sakumo moved forward with only a kunai at hand. I thought that we had them as the gold dust was still collecting itself to block our attacks, but my hopes were dashed when the woman next to Rasa pulled out a small fan from her sleeves and waved it at us, "_Futon: Taifuikka (Wind Release: Passing Typhoon)_!"

All our attacks immediately disappeared from the powerful gust of wind that emitted from her fan. The wind jutsu knocked us backward and even made my clone disappear upon contact. Sakumo was the only one standing after the attack, yet even he looked pushed back from the wind.

"Dog-chan, do you think you can maintain your jutsu for longer than ten seconds?" Sakumo asked as I got up from the ground.

My left arm and waist were stinging and bleeding, but I was still on my feet, "I might be able to do, Hatake-san."

"Good, then we can make this gamble. That jutsu will be able to cut through his gold dust. Have your teammate with the brass knuckle join us, and have your other teammate distract that wind user while we get close. Let us hope this works, or we might not come out of this fight alive."

It was then I noticed that he was breathing harder than usual and that he was bleeding from a wound on his right shoulder. I motioned for Mikoto to come over and signaled to Shikaku to provide us with cover from the trees. Both followed through immediately and once Mikoto landed next to us, we moved forward. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Shikaku use his Shadow Possession jutsu on the woman with the fan from afar. Once I saw her trying to fight the jutsu, I turned my eyes back to the front.

In one swift move, the jonin pulled out a scroll and a sheathed sword puffed into existence. Sakumo pulled out the sword with his left hand and formed a hand seal with his right hand, "_Raiton: Raiga (Lightning Release: Lightning Fang)!_"

The sword sparked and emitted arcs of lightning violently, glowing brightly in a deadly blue light. Without looking at me, the jonin shouted, "Now!"

"_Raiton: Junsei Raikou Kunai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Pure Lightning Kunai Technique)!_"

Lightning formed in my right hand and I desperately prayed for the jutsu to work as intended. I pushed forward and focused on the jutsu in my hand, forming a blade of lightning in my hand. I recalled the jonin's words of advice the night before.

_The jutsu is difficult to use if you attempt to make a kunai from the start. The kunai shape is meant to be easier to throw, but that comes after learning the basics of the jutsu itself. The trick is to focus on making a blade that you can use for close combat first, before attempting to form the lightning into a more complex shape like a kunai._

I focused on making a short blade that was similar to a blade on a dagger. I had successfully managed to use the jutsu last night, but I was unsure how it would hold up in a real fight. Regardless, I had to try. Or else we were dead.

Thankfully, the blade came into existence just a moment later. The lightning blade was about ten centimeters in length and when I grabbed it, it felt somewhat physical. When a wave of sand appeared towards me, I narrowly dodged the attack and used my blade to cut the gold dust.

The blade managed to cut through the gold dust slightly, but it was enough to make some of the gold dust fall to the ground lifelessly. As I parried another attack that was coming towards me, Sakumo moved forward ahead of me and sliced an arc of electricity towards Rasa. The reddish haired man's male teammate moved forward to intercept the attack with a wind jutsu of his own and fought Sakumo head-on.

Which left me and Mikoto to face the gold dust user.

Several precious seconds had passed since I activated my jutsu, but I was close to the man than before. When I got within range, I pushed my blade forward to stab him in his chest. The man seemed unfazed as a wall of gold dust was erected in front of me. Regardless, I slammed into his gold dust wall with my blade and began to slice the wall with the lightning blade. The blade managed to knock some of the gold dust loose and created a small opening. Eagerly, I pushed forward even further and prepared a _Rasengan _with my free hand.

Before I could attack, gold dust exploded out of the ground and surrounded me fast. I cursed as the dome started to close above me and tried to use my blade to cut my way through. However, before the lightning blade could even touch the gold dust, it faded away.

I mentally panicked as I tried to use the jutsu once again. Unfortunately, my attempt at forming the jutsu exploded in failure and the gold dust closed in on me. In a desperate attempt to escape, I used a jutsu to create an opening, "_Rasengan__!_"

Shockingly, the gold dust _rotated along with my Rasengan_ to negate the effects of the powerful chakra sphere. I didn't know how Rasa was manging this, but I continued to push with the _Rasengan_ to escape, adding more power to it to bring down the walls. However, as I saw some cracks in the dome, the gold dust collapsed on me quickly. As I reflexively placed my arms above my head to protect myself, something struck the gold dust and literally _sliced the dome in half_. Seeing my opportunity to escape, I leaped through the gap created towards the top and landed safely outside.

When I looked up, I saw Sakumo holding his sword in a slashing motion towards the collapsed dome. The body of the gold dust user's teammate was on the ground and the white-haired jonin readied his sword once again to face the gold dust user. However, Rasa let out a small tsk before collapsing into a pile of gold dust.

And before I could react, the Konoha jonin collapsed onto the ground, the sound of his sword dropping being the only sound echoing through the forest.

* * *

Two days later, our group arrived back at Konoha with three bodies in tow. Two of them were unconscious Suna shinobi, while the third body was the worn-out and unconscious body of one Hatake Sakumo. Thankfully, the jonin wasn't dead but suffered from chakra exhaustion. His impressive display with the sword and his _Raiton_ jutsu stretched his body to the breaking point.

We managed to locate an Anbu team that was returning to Konoha to help us bring the Suna shinobi back to Konoha and the Anbu agents kept the two Suna shinobi unconscious throughout the entire trip. During the trip, my teammates and I completed a detailed report on what we saw during our engagement, including the abilities of the gold dust user and his teammates. When we arrived at the village, we dropped the jonin off in the hospital and reported back to Danzo at the Anbu headquarters. The bodies of the Suna shinobi were transported away to a private cell within the headquarters.

"Ah, Root Team One and Anbu Team Nine. I see that you have returned together. I assume both of your missions were a success?" The head of Anbu stated expectingly.

I and one of the Anbu members nodded. The man looked pleased as he eyed the two teams, "Good. Rat, I'll listen to your debriefing first. Root Team One, please wait outside until I am finished."

Mikoto, Shikaku, and I bowed and walked out of the office. We remained in the hallways silently, thinking over the events of the mission. I recalled that I nearly died _yet again_ due to the gold dust, but it wasn't due to any mistakes on my part. The gold dust user was beyond my skill level and he was definitely stronger than the Atasuke clan member I faced during my first mission. My speed had gotten faster over the past year, yet the gold dust user still grazed me twice and trapped me in his dome towards the end. It was only due to a series of dumb luck that I managed to stay alive. Sakumo managed to defeat his opponent just in time to free me from my prison, Shikaku discreetly managed to trap the Suna kunoichi using his Shadow Possession jutsu with his ninja wire to prevent her from retaliating against us, and Mikoto managed to hold Rasa's attention just long enough for Sakumo to rescue me. A shinobi's life was a fickle thing and even the easiest mission reminded me this constantly. And no matter how advanced I was for my age, there was always a shinobi that was going to be better than me. At least for now.

Once we finished debriefing, I was going to return home, rest for the day, and then immediately go back to training.

The three of us were unusually silent while we waited. Shikaku rested on the ground while Mikoto leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. Both of them seemed to be in their own world for the moment and they only reacted after Danzo called us back into the office. After we walked in, we debriefed him on the mission and handed him a detailed report of our findings.

"It's a shame that the gold dust user escaped, but you three managed to net us two Suna shinobi and valuable information about the gold dust user. You have made the Leaf safer by successfully carrying out this mission," Danzo smiled as he inspected each of us individually, "Your pay will be with your instructor at your next training lesson with them. For now, you will be given a two-week break from missions to improve upon your training and rest. However, you may be called to my office anytime this week, so be on alert. Dismissed."

We left the headquarters and arrived back at my apartment. When we arrived, Mikoto rushed to my bedroom and returned wearing her standard attire, "That was too close, Hiro-chan."

I didn't know what to say as I changed into my normal clothing behind the sofa. The Uchiha heiress bit her lips as she glared at me, "I know it wasn't your fault, but still, it was too close."

I knew exactly what she was talking about as I turned to look at her directly, "It was a mission, Mikoto. We were forced to fight and I did."

"He's right. There wasn't a choice there," Shikaku mumbled as he excused himself to change.

When Shikaku disappeared into the bathroom, Mikoto moved towards me and clung onto me, "Maybe we should quit Root."

I was speechless as I registered what she said, "But I thought you enjoyed improving your abilities and liked going outside the village for missions?"

"I know," Mikoto said quietly, "But you nearly died that time and I don't want to lose you."

"We'll have to do this when we're shinobi anyways, Mikoto. It's better to get better now then wait till later," I said gently as I gave her a half-hug. "Did something happen before you left for the mission? You've been acting strangely."

The Uchiha scowled and looked down at the ground, "Father wants me to get married."

I nearly swore in English before regaining control of myself, "But you're ten!"

"Yeah, but since I've been showing a lot of progress as a kunoichi, the elders want me to find someone suitable to lead the clan with when my father places me as the head," Mikoto's scowled deepened, "And they paired me with that boring, stupid Fugaku! To make it worse, he agreed! They didn't even want to hear what I had to say. My father tried to oppose them, but the elders threatened to remove him and place Fugaku's father as the new clean head, so he was forced to agree. I was distracted during the mission because I got into a fight with father and the marriage thing."

"Is there any way to get around the arranged marriage?"

For the first time since we returned to the village, Mikoto smiled, "Just one, unless I find someone suitable to replace him."

Oh dear lord. She didn't mean...

"Yes, I'm looking at you Hiro-chan!"

"Well, this is awkward."

Shikaku emerged from the bathroom with an amused expression, "That was pretty bold of you, Mikoto. Confessing with a marriage proposal."

Mikoto pouted at our Nara friend, "Well I didn't really have a choice!"

"I mean, what about Shikaku?" I pointed out casually.

"He's a friend, but not the one I really like!" Mikoto declared.

I sweated nervously as I backed away from the girl slowly. Mikoto and I were both ten years old, but I was mentally an adult. Not to mention, I didn't even have any thoughts of having a regular romantic relationship with Mikoto until this moment, "Maybe you should calm down a bit and think this through..."

"No."

Mikoto clung onto me and I was unable to shake her off, "I'm not moving till you say "yes," Hiro-chan."

I sighed deeply as I felt a headache pounding my head from the situation, "How do you know I'm better than Fugaku?"

"Because you are!" Mikoto declared confidently, "We don't need to get married right away! You just need to beat him in a match spectated by the elders and we can get married later on!"

How the hell did it come to this?

"I'll beat him in a fight but for the marriage issue... Let's discuss that _after_ we've grown up a bit," I answered desperately, trying to delay the issue as much as I could.

Thankfully, the raven-haired girl seemed satisfied by my answer and let go, "Deal!"

Even as I went to sleep, my thoughts were plagued by the issue with Mikoto.

* * *

Three days after I returned to Konoha, peace in the Elemental Nations was shattered as Suna invaded Konoha through Tani. Their reason for war was because Konoha "invaded" Suna territory and killed two Suna shinobi. Two days after Suna's declaration of war, Iwa followed suit with their own declaration of war. Uzu came to Konoha's defense while Kumo and Kiri remained neutral... for the time being.

Unfortunately for me, I was stuck right in the middle of it. And if I didn't change anything, people I knew would start dying... Starting with my blue-haired teacher.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that wraps up this chapter.
> 
> A lot of rewriting happened, which is why the update was a bit delayed, but I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Remember, all forms of criticism and comments are welcome! If you enjoyed something or hated something, make sure to point it out in the comments below!


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